The Girl From My Dreams
by Boxmaster
Summary: 25 years after the "2nd Great War of Panem" the Capitol finds itself with a new president to take control over all of Panem. This leads to the imminent return of a new and improved Hunger Games that none other than Katniss' and Peeta's 18 year old son, "Finn", will likely have to face head to head. How will the son of the 2 most popular victors handle himself in the games?
1. Chapter 1

There she is again. Why do I keep seeing her? I shake my head and follow her down the path that I barely caught her walking on. As I disappear deeper and deeper into this direction, the world starts to recede around me. I can only see in front of me. I try to look to the side and see only darkness. I turn my head quickly. Same thing. I turn my head back and the darkness turns into a forest set ablaze. Panic and adrenaline courses through my veins as I look for an escape route. I won't die here. I look expectantly to my right and left. Both paths are lit up with unbelievably high and powerful waves of fire. All of sudden there's a shriek that sounds so familiar, too familiar, that I have to move in the direction it came from. Unfortunately it's coming from deeper into the fire. My resolve doesn't waver, I have to get to the owner of that shriek. I must. As I travel deeper and deeper, I start to feel the effects of the fire and smoke. My eyelids start to drop and my heart rate is speeding up and slowing down inconsistently. I clutch my chest trying to rip my lungs out of my body. They're as inflamed as this forest is.

"Where are you!?" I call out to her, my voice dry and raspy. No response. I grit my teeth and continue forward. Each step feels like it shaves a few years off my life and I'm going to drop any second. I take one last step before I drop to my knees. Defeat. It tastes so bitter until I hear her voice. She says something, I think my name. As soon as the last decibel of noise escapes her lips, the entire forest is extinguished and the meadow we are now resting in looks almost pristine. My head is on her lap as she sits there looking over me, applying a damp towel to my forehead. My eyes fly open and all of a sudden I'm in my bed looking for the girl of my dreams in a cold sweat. My mother rushes to my room quickly.

"Finn?" She calls my name gently.

"Yeah, sorry mom I had another strange dream." I say wiping my face. She turns on my light and gets a towel from my washroom. After she hands it to me, she sits on the side of my bed, deep in her thoughts like usual. I can see her weighing options in her head, probably deciding whether or not to tell me something as I watch her mouth move to open and then stop suddenly.

"Are you worried about the reaping? It's your last year you know." I shake my head. I haven't really been 'trained' for the games but considering that I was birthed from two prior victors, I picked up on some stuff. I mean my mother taught me how to hunt as soon as I took my first steps. She took me to the woods every morning for 13 years and passed on everything she knew. My mother was different here. The way she commanded grace and flew through the grassy earth, I could tell that my mother was truly the queen of these woods and I'm the heir she's passing it down to. Even as a child I felt an immense pride to share these woods with my mother. We still go out every once in a while to compete. I've gotten better and I've definitely gotten close but I've never managed to overcome her. How I admire her. I was lucky enough to inherit my father's stocky build although I'm a bit taller than he is now. Genetics aside, he also taught me how to paint. Actually he taught me more than how to paint, he taught me how capture a moment through gentle but utterly tactical strokes. He showed me how a fleeting moment like a shooting star can be captured on a canvas and appreciated forever. Both of my parents raised me in a way where I wasn't usually too worried about myself.

"I'm not worried about the games." I sigh deeply.

"You see, there's this girl-" I stutter as a picture of the girl rushes into my head. I spot my mother's face. She looks kind of surprised and slightly worried. She was unprepared for this.

"Oh, would you like me to wake your father? He's much better with this kind of thing." My mother offers. You can see she's desperate to escape this topic.

"No thanks. It's nothing like that. Well, at least I don't think it is." I'm stumbling over my words now.

"There's just this girl that has been showing up in my dreams for a while now but I don't think I've never seen her in real life before." My mother considers this for a second. All of a sudden a playful smile crosses her face. I can't figure out why.

"What's so funny?" I ask her, so obviously confused. She just smiles at me and says,

"It obviously means you're going to meet her soon."

I wake up again, this time I'm not sweating profusely and it's also morning. I get out of bed and stretch myself out, getting prepared for the day ahead of me. The reaping isn't for another few hours so I have some time to go out. I go to the washroom and make myself at least look presentable enough to go outside into the real world. My parents are kind of celebrities around these parts, my father is the mayor and my mother still carries her status as the most famous victor, so everyone knows who I am. I can't go out looking like I just woke up and embarrass them.

After I groom myself, I head downstairs to leave. I'm minding my own business when all of a sudden I get side swiped by a beautifully delicious aroma wafting in from the kitchen. My mother is frying some eggs, potatoes and ham while I can smell the scent of freshly baked bread coming from the oven. I abandon my quest to the outside world to fill up on some of my mother's wonderful cooking to wake me up.

"Smells delicious." I tell my mother, my mouth still drooling.

"Grab a seat little duck," My mother says sweetly as she turns to grab me a plate. I take a seat at the table and grab my fork and knife ready to dig in. I look over expectantly at my mother who is walking to me with a big plate full of eggs, potatoes and ham. I can't help but inhale all the food in front of me until I can't breathe. I sit back and rest my hands on the back of my head, satisfied. As my mother takes my plate and sets it in the sink the doorbell rings. I'm so full that all my movements are slowed and I take a long time getting up. Suddenly the doorbell starts ringing repeatedly and I know who has to be at the door. Damn it, who does she think she is? I take my pleasant time walking knowing I'll annoy the person waiting for me, one of my very best friends in the world, Sasha Brooks. When I open the door I see she's standing in my doorway expectantly, probably waiting for an apology. Her nose is wrinkled in irritation and slightly reddened by the cold morning air. I just woke up so I'm slightly annoyed.

"Why the fu- (My mom is right behind me!) -hell are you ringing my door bell like that!? (That was close!)I-I swear to god, you're going to break it."

"Well why didn't you answer your door faster!? I waited exactly twenty-five seconds and you didn't show up!"

"Well what if I wasn't here and all you were doing was disrupting my parents!?"

"Well if you weren't here then you would've been with me, right? Who the hell else do you know?" She says wryly. I catch the glint in her eye. She's teasing me but she's also kind of right. Whenever I go out, I usually drop by her house and ask her to tag along anyway. She's fun to be around.

"Yeah, whatever." I say back with a playful smile. My mother catches us in the doorway and comes to say hi.

"Oh, hello Sasha, were you the one "spamming" our doorbell?" My mother asks her, smiling gently. Sasha blushes so clearly even I feel kind of embarrassed.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Mellark, your son was just taking too long and I got impatient-"

"Say no more." My mother cuts her off. "You do what you have to do to whip my son in to shape!" My mother adds. I just look at her in disbelief. She doesn't know it, but this has Sasha fired up beyond belief.

"You got it ma'am!" Sasha says as she salutes my mother. She smiles at us and walks away.

Sasha starts smiling back at me when all of sudden she brings her palm to her forehead like she just now remembered an essential piece of information.

"Theo, Leslie and Sol are waiting for us in the meadow," she informs me. Those are my other three best friends. We all met in kindergarten when we were put in the same table group. Let's start with big ol' Theodore Lasus. He's a big ol' ox. That's what I call him because he's incredibly big and strong. We both box and wrestle in the district wide school competitions. He's always the star though. I've lost just a little bit more than he did and I never get to forget about it because he always reminds me of it. It's mainly because there was almost no one in his weight class, though. Either the opposing schools would have to back out or try their luck. Leslie is my second best friend and Theo's girlfriend. She's probably the smartest person I know. I don't even mean book smarts (Though she was on the honor roll,) but she has some kind of clairvoyance. She always has an answer like she can see everything. I remember this one time last year, when we were in eleventh grade. All five of us wandered deep into the forest, the first reaping of the "Updated Hunger Games" was the next day. Nobody said it but I think we wanted some kind of "escape". I didn't think they were willing to go all the way to meadow, it's quite a hike to get there, but we did eventually make it there. First whiff of that clear lake water and I felt refreshed. Still, nobody said anything until Sol slips out:

"This is a pretty peacefully place to sleep. There's no noise but the water." Hmm. I had never thought about that before he said it. I just decide to sit down and relax. Theo and Leslie leave to do whatever couples do. Kiss or whatever. Sol sat next to me. Sasha went to go play in the water. That girl who has way too much energy.

"Hey, Finn..." Sol's tone got real serious. That's worrying. You see, Sol is an odd guy but probably my closest friend of all. He has a strange lack of self-worth but somehow this gives him an incredible amount of selflessness. He always does what he can for others. If he can help you in any possible way, he will. But at the same time, he will almost never ask anyone else for help. With, ANYTHING. He once broke his right arm while helping an elderly man fix his roof and ended up fixing his arm himself. I swear! I was there the whole time saying he should go see a doctor but he just kept it to himself and moved on. He was on the school fencing team and had to compete against a District 3 student, while using his left arm. I would love to say he won but he lost, although it was close, just one point. The point is, he's gained my respect and when he starts talking to me in such a serious tone, I listen carefully.

"Have you read over the rules for the Hunger Games?" Sol asks me.

"Mhm."

"What do you think? It sounds oddly... I don't know. I'm not exactly mad."

"I know what you mean." The updated Hunger Games have a bittersweet taste to it, I have to say. On one hand, you don't have to die. You can say "Mercy!" That means you "lose". However, losing could mean the possibility of starving you alongside your District. See, the games made their way back into our lives because the world had been running out of yearly resources. There was only enough for every District, including the Capitol, to live just above starvation annually or have one District starve for a year while the rest are taken care of. President Valley, the current president of the Capitol was the first one to suggest the Games, with a new twist. Now, the games will be about whoever survives to the end AND actually has something to do with the word "hunger". She actually said these words according to my father who was at the negotiations. If the games start and you're the first person to call "Mercy!" you come in last. That means your district, or the Capitol, has to starve. The next seven to lose receive just enough to get by. The top six receives more than enough to get by on with the Victor getting a special prize; a twenty five percent cut of the money from the people who lost betting on the games. Being the Victor once, just once, insures that you probably won't have to work for twenty years at least. It's strangely... Fair. But still, I bet a lot of people will die anyway. I mean, no one wants to lose first and so that means until you've heard that first cannon, you can't quit. "I'll volunteer for you if it ever comes to that, okay?" Sol says to me way out of the blue.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"It would be embarrassing for you and your family if you lost all our food for the entire year. Everybody will make fun of you. I mean, you're the Victor's child. 'The golden boy.' If I lose, I'll just start living out here."

"Shut up, Sol. If you get nominated, I'll volunteer for you because I don't mind being made fun of as long you're not forced to live out here during the harsh winters. I would prefer you stayed alive and in 12. Okay?"

"...Hmph." He just scoffs then lies back. I do too. As I close my eyes, I think to myself, "Sol's right. This is a nice play to sleep."

I woke up to a blanket of stars shining between the cracks of the rustling trees. I can see them clearly because there's oddly no moonlight. When I look to my side I can barely see Sol who's right next to me. I shake him awake.

"Sol. Sol! Wake up. We gotta get outta here." The forest is dangerous to be in at night. We /are/ in the meadow but it would just be better to get back home.

"I'm already awake. I was waiting for you to wake up."

"Jeez! You could've woke me up before it got this dark!"

"You looked tired."

"Gah! Whatever, just go wake up Theo and Leslie. I'll go get Sasha."

"Alright." Sol responds bluntly then hurries off. I told you. Sol is a real odd guy. I look over to the water. I remember Sasha splashing around before I fell asleep. Suddenly, I hear snoring coming from beside me. Sasha was sleeping, curled up next to me.

"S-Sasha?" I blurt out.

"Hmm...?" She says weakly. "What do you want Finn? I'm tired."

"We gotta leave now. We shouldn't sleep out here."

"Hmm? Why not? It's quiet and peaceful." She responds with a hint of annoyance. We should've fallen asleep in the trees. There are wild dogs who aren't necessarily satisfied with the rabbits that this forest can barely supply them with. I don't want to worry Sasha too much so I decide to keep it to myself.

"We just have to go, okay? Trust me."

"I'm tired-drunk. Piggyback me."

"Huh? You're kidding right?"

"But I thought you /liked/ me?"

"A-Are you actually drunk right now?" I did tell Sasha, my long-time friend, that I did in fact have some kind of extra emotions for her. She likes to hold that over my head and tease me with it when she's upset with me.

"...You're really serious... Fine... Hop on my back." I slip out reluctantly. I bend down and she mounts my back.

"Not even gonna say thanks?" I say as I look back. Turns out she's already asleep. I just sigh. Liking someone who's also a close friend is a strange thing. Theo, Leslie and Sol walk over to us.

"How are we gonna get back when we can barely even see the people in front of us?" Theo says as he and Leslie rejoin us.

"I don't know," I respond. I'm sure my mother knows these woods well enough to maneuver around blindfolded but I haven't quite reached that level yet. Just as this thought crossed my mind, Leslie finally says:

"We just have to wait for Finn's mom to show up. I told her we would be coming out here before we left."

Clairvoyance. We just sat and waited for 5 more minutes and sure enough, I heard my parents calling for us. We got out of the meadow relatively easily and all got to sleep in our own beds. Each of my friends are special in their own way and have a place in my heart. All I want to do is protect them. Which is why I'm starting to get awfully worried. For some reason, I start smelling heavy smoke. Now, even though this is still a coal and mineral mining District, this aroma was the smoke of flames straight from hell. I've never smelled anything quite like this before. I can see Sasha recognize the panic in my eyes.

"What's wrong Finn?" She says as she shakes my shoulders. I'm paralyzed by fear. Suddenly my dream is becoming all too familiar because the world starts closing out around me. I can't tell why. But, finally I hear a shriek that snaps me back to earth. I look to the left of my doorstep and see that the shriek came from an elderly woman pointing at the woods. Thick, dense clouds of darkness are escaping from the middle and I can hear the fire starting to spread. Sasha follows the woman's finger slightly slower than I do and I get to watch the expression of her face change from confusion to realization to horror to an understanding of what comes next. Sasha and I are off to the woods before we even exchange any words. If we even have a chance of getting them out alive, waiting won't help. I get to the weak part of the fence when I hesitate, partly because I'm afraid, partly because Sasha's just a little bit behind me and for some reason I'm expecting to see her. The girl from my dreams.


	2. Chapter 2

She's not here. I look from side to side and she's just not here. This isn't my dream. I sigh as I free fall back to reality. Sasha finally catches up with me, obviously confused as to why I'm just standing there.

"What's going on?" She asks me.

"Just waiting for you to catch up," I say as I pull the bottom length of the fence upwards so Sasha can climb underneath. We cross the clearing and get into the forest but it's eerily quiet. We haven't reached the fire yet. I stop by the tree I hid my bow in and the other log I left my quiver of arrows. I smile inwardly when I see my mother's set of bow and arrows hidden with mine.

Sasha and I start to fly through the forest. Sasha has followed me around in here ever since we first came here in eleventh grade and I'm glad to see she's getting a hang of the footing already.

Then we start reaching the part of the forest actually on fire and I'm not so glad anymore.

The transition from clear skies to smokey ceilings was quick and incredibly harsh. Already, breathing was becoming hard and we were just getting started. I look behind me to see Sasha keeping up as best as she can but I can tell she's having trouble.

"Go back Sasha! It's too dangerous, go get help!" I call out to her.

"No!" She squeaks out trying to keep her face under her shirt. The flames are getting too high and I'm starting to get afraid for her wellbeing so I turn around and grab her shoulders to stop her from continuing.

"Sasha you have to go back, right now! I'll get them out of here but you have to get out now!" I've been working with my father in the bakery for years. I'm at least a tiny bit accustomed to the smoke and I feel like I can make it farther without having to worry about Sasha. She wants to argue but reconsiders. She kisses me on the cheek, turns on her heels and runs for the entrance. I turn around and see how bad the fire is getting. If I don't hurry, this will all become a lost cause.

I keep moving deeper and deeper into the fire, starting to question myself. Why am I doing this? They're certainly dead aren't they? There's no way they could have been in the middle of this and survived. I clearly have my mother's dying will of a hero but also have her horrible, terrible decision making abilities seeing the current predicament I'm in. The fire starts giving me a run for my money. I have to watch my footing now because branches are breaking and entire trees are falling out of the blue. I have to stop for a second because I've completely lost my sense of direction. Everything is just on fire. At that thought, I have a memory of my mother in her games. I remember watching her in the opening ceremonies on an old tape. Her and father were wearing a simple black outfit with a cape of flames that my mother loves to tell me was real, but I know better. They really did look fantastic though. Everyone who visits the Victor Village always tells me about how their hearts stopped, then skipped a beat after they saw my mother. 'The girl on fire'. I laugh out loud at how fire seems to follow this family.

Then I see her.

Well, I only see a small flash of her but I see the direction she took off in. My brain starts questioning but my heart reassures me. It's her. I follow her as best as I can but she's fast. She knows where she's going. I start to gain a little bit of ground but she quickly realizes that I'm there and speeds up. I must have frightened her. I slow down a little and figure that it's best to follow her from a respective distance until she reaches her destination. Suddenly, a little bit farther ahead of me, I see a spot where there is no fire. I can see little bits of the sky through the trees. I can smell the water, there's a lake! I can even taste the fresh air when I hear an all too familiar shriek. I speed up and burst into the clearing.

I end up in a tree line surrounding a small little oasis, somehow immune from the fire. I smell the water and realize where I am. This is the meadow! I don't see any of my friends even though this is where they should be. I thought Sasha said we were meeting in meadow. Thoughts of them trying to run through this fire back to safety start haunting my mind. I wasn't quick enough. They should've just stayed here, the way the fire borders around the meadow led you to believe that it could only be the work of technology or the hand of something holy. It's some kind of miracle.

Suddenly I hear a shriek, followed by a twisted cackle. I turn and see the girl from my dreams captured by someone, or something, that looked like it was from the Capitol. It's wearing a peacekeeper uniform and resembled a human but was much too large. Its torso alone towered over the girl. There's a smaller lady standing in front of the girl, teasing her. Pulling her hair and slapping her. She's also wearing a peacekeeper uniform but her uniform was different. It has different medals and badges on the chest and a small shoulder cape. So she must be some sort of captain or someone of rank. I look back at the girl. I'm getting curious as to what made this girl end up in my dreams so often. I notice her clothing first, she's wearing a black tank top with a white skull and crossbones in the middle, camouflage cargo pants with a matching camouflage jacket wrapped around her waist and light looking leather boots. She looks like she's been fighting a war. But she's also stunning. She has long, flowing, brown hair tied into a tight ponytail. A few rogue strands flow down the front of her face. I notice that her auburn-hazel eyes find a way to perfectly mix a sense a confidence with a playful taste of submissiveness. It sends a shiver up and down my spine when she finally makes eye contact with me. I don't know how she was able to spot me in the tree line but she's caught me off guard. I let out a nervous smile and mouth the words: "Don't worry. I'll help." She nods slyly. I don't even know who she is but I decide I can't leave this alone. I assess the situation; there are only two of the Capitol's XL Peacekeepers (that's what I've decided to call them) and the Capitol lady as targets. I definitely don't want to kill them, I don't know anything about them either. I decide I'm going to shoot them all in the foot. That way, the girl can escape and nobody dies. I load my bow and aim it at the foot of the XL peacekeeper holding onto her first. I get a lock on my target and release the arrow. It flies through the air and I get the trajectory I need but it stops suddenly. The lady from the Capitol grabbed it out of midair before it hit its target. She inspects the arrow then starts turning in my direction. I hit the ground and start soldier crawling to the right. "I'll just shoot again from a different angle," I tell myself. I feel like I'm out of her sight but all of a sudden something grips my leg. I look back and it's the other XL peacekeeper. He pulls me out of the trees and holds me upside down by my right ankle. All of my arrows fall out of my quiver. The lady walks up to me with her hands behind her back. As she finally reaches me, she whips my right cheek with the feathered end of my arrow.

"I know who you are, Finnick. What I don't understand is why you're trying to get involved in our business. This has nothing to do with 12 and nothing to do with you. Go home."

She hisses at me bluntly.

"How am I supposed to get home? Haven't you seen that this forest is on fire?!" I bark back.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. We had to flush that girl out and that required burning this forest down. This is the only place she could've escaped to. We'll send a crew to put this out after we deal with her." So it was her? She was the one who started the fire? So she was the one who killed Theo, Leslie and Sol. An incredible amount of rage swirls through my stomach. I start swinging at her but she dodges me with ease. She takes the arrow and continues whipping me in the face with it till I finally settle down. I haven't given up but I don't know what I can do. This realization hits me like a ton a bricks. I close my eyes, suddenly exhausted, when I hear a strange voice. Somehow, it's coming from inside my head.

_"You desire vengeance. This is something I can help you with. If you give me your soul, I will help you acquire it."_

Give you my soul? Somehow I know exactly what this is. Some kind of a deal with a devil.

_"She's right in front of you, the one who killed them, right? With my help you could definitely kill her back."_ The voice continues. I'm afraid because I'm honestly considering it before I'm suddenly dropped to the ground.

"Stop doing stupid crap. It's really tiring me out." Says an awfully familiar voice. I open my eyes and see Sol standing above me.

"You're... Here?" I say back to him confused as hell.

"I ran into Sasha when she was exiting the burning woods. She asked me to help you so I ran in to find you."

"I ran in here to find you, Theo and Leslie!"

"Huh?" He helps me to my feet.

"Theo and Leslie aren't in here."

"Say again?"

"Leslie didn't want to go to the meadow before you got there so we went to your father's bakery first. He gave us some excellent breakfast pastries." He explains to me bluntly. I just sigh. Of course Leslie saw this coming, she's clairvoyant, remember? I'm trying to find some expression other than relief but that's all I really feel. Relieved. Now it's just time to escape this current predicament and we're golden. I hear a gargle coming from my right. I look and see the XL peacekeeper has black stuff oozing out of the deep gash in his head.

"They're mutts. I don't feel bad about putting them down." He says to me quite coldly. I look back at him and see that his wooden sword he uses to practice with is covered in the black ooze. I grab my bow and clean up my stack of arrows before getting them back in my quiver.

"That girl," I look over at the girl.

"Can you help me rescue her?"

"Her?" He looks over at her too.

"Haha. Alright, I'll keep this Capitol broad busy. You go secure her."

"Thanks."

"Hey, what are friends for?" As I run at the mutt peacekeeper, I get an idea from when I was getting whipped with my own arrow. I pull out an arrow but instead of loading it into my bow, I run in and stab the mutt through the head. His grip on the girl loosens. She gets free and grabs my hand.

"You're safe. Now we just gotta get out of here." I say quickly. She just nods. I look over at Sol and see he's in between us and the lady. She just starts cackling.

"You really have no idea who you're messing with, do ya?" She hisses at us.

"Nope. But you were beating up my friend and I can't allow that." Sol responds. She just snickers at us as she snaps her fingers. Just as quickly as the snap, we're surrounded by at least 50 of the Capitol's mutts. She simply points at the girl and I and the mutts charge at us. Sol turns around ready to help us fend them off but the lady from the Capitol gets in his way.

"I thought you were supposed to keep me busy?" I hear her hiss at Sol. I guess that means I'm on my own now. As Sol fights the Capitol lady, I grab an arrow for each hand and prepare to start fighting off the mutts.

"Just stay behind me. We'll get through this." I say to the girl. I don't really believe it myself but I have to try. I take out the first mutt to reach us with relative ease, just slicing through its throat but it seems it wasn't enough to kill it. It grabs my leg as another two mutts close in on us.

"You have to destroy the brain!" The girl informs me. That would've been nice to know from the start. I stab the mutt holding onto my leg through the head while barely avoiding a swing from second mutt. I stab it through the head as well and it drops to the floor. As I reach into my quiver to grab another arrow, some of the mutts pin me to the ground from behind. I try to struggle free but they're incredibly strong.

"Finn!" I hear Sol call out. Before I can respond I feel a heavy fist impact the back of my head and I'm out like a light.


	3. Chapter 3

_"You were pretty pathetic back there, Finnick. I can't believe you actually lost to those blockheads. You should've taken my help when I first offered it to you. Now you're probably gonna get tortured and brutally killed. All this for that one girl? Man, why'd I have to get stuck with such an idiotic sap like you?"_

"W-who are you?"

_"Doesn't matter anymore."_

* * *

><p>My emergence from the world of unconsciousness was a brutal one. Every little bit of awareness I obtained was immediately directed to the pain I was feeling throughout my entire body. My back is wrecked. My joints are locked and brittle. My head is as foggy as a warm morning after a rainy night. I try to move so I can stretch myself out but I see that I'm restrained. I don't bother trying to escape. It's obviously futile and struggling will only worsen my condition. I look to my right and see the same girl lying next to me, also restrained. Her restraints look different, made of steel as opposed to my leather. I call out to her, my voice dry and raspy.<p>

"Hey! Hey you!" I whisper as loudly as I can. No response.

"Pssssssssssst!" I start to panic hoping she's alright but logic clears my head. Why would they restrain a dead person? I calmly slow my breathing and listen carefully. It's very faint but it's there, her breath. She's alive and so I start figuring out how we're going to escape. I would be fine getting tortured and killed on my own but I don't want her to go through it. My brain suddenly chimes in with this rogue thought:

"Why am I trying so hard for this girl?"

I mean, I know she was in my dreams but I still barely know her. Yeah, she's pretty but is that the only reason why I'm willing to go through all this for her? Why I'm willing to die for her? Whenever I see her, it's only my heart that's guiding me but it's by listening to my heart that I'm in this mess in the first place. I need to use my brain more. I hear footsteps start coming down the hallway and realize I might not get the chance to. I steel myself. I prepare mentally for torture. I'm not sure how but I know it's coming. Suddenly, I hear an overly upbeat voice coming from down just outside the door. Confusion washes over my face. Where have I heard this voice before?

"Make sure you take care of that fire. I'm serious." I hear her whisper before she steps into the room.

"Oh! Our knight in shining armor is finally awake!" She says walking up to me. I know who this is.

"President Valley." She puts her hands on her hips and nods at me.

"Finnick Mellark, how long has it been since the last time I've seen you?" I actually think about it; my parents used to act as her advisers while the new rules for the games were being chosen. These meetings started a year after the food shortage started which was two years ago and so I was seventeen the last time I saw her.

"Just a year or so ago. I was seventeen."

She smiles at me widely. Probably excited that I actually spoke to her let alone did the math in my head. It always confused me as to why this woman is the second president of the Capitol and who everyone considers to be the actual heir to Snow. Then she opened her mouth. She obtained her position using her silver tongue that no one can seem to notice. She used her hypnotically persuasive words to get the previous president, Patina Paylor, recalled. People like to tell me that my father was also a master with words. Many like to theorize that she obtained her mastery through studying my father. With her words as her primary weapon, she started campaigning, won her election and since then been the president of the Capitol.

"Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on!?" I bark at her. I'm sick of this. She walks behind my bed and I panic at the idea of her wandering my only blind spot. She laughs at my feeble attempts to escape.

"I've been chasing this girl for months," she walks over to her. "And I finally caught her. She's extremely volatile and dangerous. It's better for everybody if she disappears." I look at the girl's peaceful face as she sleeps. Volatile and dangerous? I can't believe that.

"And you interfered with us so you're gonna have to disappear too!" Says the lady peacekeeper from the forest pointing at me as she slithers her way into the room. I didn't even notice her walk in. She troubles me for some reason, I don't know why. She spots me staring at her and flips out.

"What are you staring at kid!?" She barks at me.

"I don't know, who the hell are you?" I reply smugly. I might as well keep her talking and agitated. I think she was about to throw a punch when Valley raises her arm to intercept her. She just scoffs and looks away.

"Her name is Winter." Valley explains to me. Winter scoffs once more.

"Whatever," she hisses at us while licking her lips. "You can do whatever you want with the girl. Prince Charming over here is all mine."

I spot her lips and see she's drooling at the chance to inflict some real human suffering. I can see her playing around with some pliers and testing out some power tools. I know she's trying to frighten me but her clear and obvious lust for blood is still unsettling.

"Wait, Winter." Valley walks over to me and takes me in for a large number of additional seconds before I see the light bulb go off in her head. Her eyes discretely flick back to Winter before they come back to mine. What was that all about? Valley just chuckles to regain her composure and then struts out of the room. You can see she's overly impressed with her idea. As she's walking down the corridor I catch her say,

"Your plan might not work if you damage the goods. Instead, just make sure he's at the reaping."

I'm blindfolded and tossed into a car so I can be released separately from the girl and go back to my house. As long as I comply with their orders to attend the reaping - as if I had any choice - they promised the girl's wellbeing. I don't believe I can trust Winter or even Valley but I also don't have much of a choice.

I'm tossed out of the car onto a dirt road. I hear the "shing" of a pocket knife as someone walks up behind me. I feel the rope restraints around my wrists loosen. I massage my wrists as I hear the car pull away. I take off my blindfold and wince as my eyes get adjusted to the light. I look around and am surprised I'm still in 12. I honestly expected to be in the Capitol. I start heading home feeling empty and drained. I look at a street clock and see that only a few hours have passed since the forest fire. I look in the direction of the forest and everything looks normal. Almost like there was never a fire in the first place. I shake my head trying to understand everything that has happened so far but it's all a big mess. I try to figure out what my next plan of action is even though I know there's only one real outcome.

I'm probably going to the games.

I feel like I'm going to be sick when Sasha, Leslie, Theo and Sol turn around the corner. They spot me dazed and confused on what I'm guessing is the outskirts of 12 and start running to me. Theo reaches me first and wraps me up in his big, bear arms. Theo is big and burly but he's also gentle and peaceful. It's still scary to experience his strength and power even if it's through a harmless hug. Sasha and Leslie join us and complete the group hug. Leslie's golden blonde hair and Sasha's straight black hair get tangled on my face and tickle my nose, poising me to sneeze, so I sniffle. Leslie and Sasha and even Theo take this as me crying and they all start sobbing like infants. Sol just laughs as he sees my facial reaction.

"Damn it, you guys have to get off me!" No luck. They all cling to me and refuse to let go. I grin nefariously. I know exactly what to do. I start to wince convincingly and make really exaggerated moans of pain until they all release me and come to my aid. I laugh hysterically at the looks on their faces. I'm just so happy they're all alive. Theo walks up to me, tears still streaming down his face. He puts his hands on my shoulders and pulls me in again.

"We all thought you were dead!" Theo sobs at me.

"I told you he would be fine. I don't know why you guys worried so much." Sol just scoffs at Theo.

Sol.

I start to remember what happened at the meadow and realize I have some questions for him. I make eye contact with him and he knows what I want. He steps over to the side, away from the group. I follow after him.

"Sol. What the hell happened to me in the meadow?" I question him.

"Ah. Five of those mutt peacekeepers tackled you from behind and knocked you out. I was going to help you but as you lost consciousness, you told me to run, you told me you could handle it."

"I did?" That's one part I cannot remember no matter how hard I try.

"Yes. I didn't run, though. I couldn't do that. So I got ready to fight. And then I saw the girl-" Sol suddenly stops with his explanation. I've never seen him like this before, he looks like he's just seen a ghost.

"Sol?" His face tells me that he's recalling something nightmarish. He swallows hard and some of the color starts returning to his face.

"...Finn. Who exactly was that girl?"

"Ah, that's right. It's gonna sound dumb, but she's this girl that's been showing up in my dreams for the past year. I... I just had to save her." I explain to Sol. The color has fully returned to his face and he's met my eyes with a stern look.

"What about Sasha?"

"Huh? W-What do you mean?"

"I think she would be a better fit for you then that girl."

"Why?"

"Finn... I'm not sure if she's even human." I look at Sol's face ready for him to burst out laughing but he's dead serious. I have no idea what he saw but I need to see it for myself before I start to judge her. I mean, we all have our quirks.

"Not human? What do you mean?"

"The things she did to those mutts... The look on her face when she did it... She enjoyed it."

"You said yourself that you didn't have any problems putting them down."

"But... I didn't enjoy it the way she did. Finn, you don't have to take my advice but just proceed with caution. There's something wrong with that girl." Sol says to me bluntly. I've known Sol for a long time and when he gives me a warning this serious, I have to heed it. I nod at him. He nods back and turns back to the group.

"I'll volunteer for you if it ever comes to that." The memory of Sol saying that back in grade eleven pops into my head. There's a possibility that that might actually happen today.

"Sol, there's something else."

"Hm?" He looks confused as he turns back around.

"Do you remember that lady you fought from the Capitol?"

"Mhm."

"She was working with President Valley. It seems I've pissed off the wrong people. I'm probably going to get reaped today. I need you to protect Sasha, Theo and Leslie for me, okay? Do not volunteer."

"Finn... Why did you even decide to mess with them in the first place? You knew they were from the Capitol."

"It was..." I can't bring myself to admit that this is also because of that girl.

"This was also because of that girl, right?" Sol can read my mind.

"...Yeah."

"Are you sure she's worth all this trouble? Just because she was in your dreams?"

"...I have to find that out for myself."

"Hmm... Well, you are the leader of our group and so I'll follow your orders and watch over Sasha and everybody else. But that means you have to win the games or at least make it back alive."

"No problem."

Suddenly, a big gong goes off signifying the last hour before the reaping. All final preparations must be made. We all say our goodbyes and head back to our homes. The whole way home I push the girl out of my mind and try to figure out what to tell my mother. If anything. There's not much that can be done about it. I open my front door and my mother sees my obviously deteriorated condition.

"Finn! What happened?!" She says in a hushed but alarmed voice. I shrug. She rushes over to me and starts checking my vital signs.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." I say to reassure her.

She gives me an extremely concerned look but I can't meet her eyes right now. They'll pry the truth out of me. I just don't want to worry her.

Assuming that the reaping goes the way I think it will, my mother will have plenty of time to be worried for me.


	4. Chapter 4

I walk out of the shower and see my father has left me my reap day outfit; a brown blazer, white button up, brown slim cut khakis with beige-brown dress shoes. All of it tied together with a red bow tie. I could personally do without it but I still appreciate the effort.

I'm just getting down the stairs when the final bell goes off signifying that citizens are to meet in the square for the reaping in fifteen minutes. My father is the mayor and both my parents are mentors so they're probably in the square already. That thought makes me realize that my parents are going to have to mentor me through the Hunger Games. I shake that thought immediately out of my head, not wanting to explore it any further. I leave my house and walk passed the gates of the victor village to see my friends 'conveniently' passing by right at the same time.

"Oh, why hello," I say as I bow quickly and politely, "Fancy meeting you here." A big smile spreads across all of their faces except for Sol. I just give him a look as we start walking together to the reaping. The closer to the square we get, the more it's starts to dawn on me that nobody knows what's about to happen. My friends think everything's fine but everything is about to get flipped upside down, inside out. I have to ditch the thought as we approach the peacekeepers here to sign us in. The peacekeeper grabs my wrist a little too aggressively as he pricks my finger.

"Mellark, Finnick." The identification machine spits out. Theo, Sol and I go to our section while Leslie and Sasha do the same. The more people that start piling in, the sweatier my palms get. I am a little bit nervous but I steel my nerves as I see my father taping the microphone to test the output and get our attention. He gives the typical introductory speech before he introduces our district's tribute escort, "Jasmine Winter". Winter?There's no possible way it's THAT Winter. It's just a coincidence, it has to be. I turn and see an all too familiar girl walking towards the stage. I recognize her hip-swaying strut, her complete air of confidence and can almost see the bloodlust dripping, no, oozing out of her.

Our escort is seriously Winter? This can't be right.

Sure enough, the same girl licking her lips in anticipation of leaving me with mortal wounds is standing on stage giving the ceremonial speech of why the Hunger Games are 'essential' in a super bubbly voice. It's the same nonsense as it's always been. The audience rewards her with a very moderate applause for her speech, our district doesn't get too excited over Capitol affairs. She taps her cue cards on the podium to align them.

"Okay, let's get started!" She points to the right. "Ladies first!" Thoughts flicker through my mind that I hadn't previously considered. Who is she gonna pick? Sasha? Leslie? What have I gotten my dear friends in to? Winter grabs the slip of paper and steps back to the podium. She clears her throat. I hold my breath.

"Katherine Summerfield!" My mind rushes through archives of all the girls in my school. I'm searching for a Katherine S. but I keep coming up short.

This girl doesn't exist. Yet there she is, walking timidly up to the stage.

My face flushes. It's her! Why is she even here? I was promised her safety! Suddenly, I'm furious. Sol looks over at me, a surprised look on his face. Nobody else seems to recognize her aside from us two. My blood is boiling, I didn't really expect Valley to keep her promise but this is so blatantly in the opposite direction that it makes my head spin. When she finally gets on stage I try desperately to lock eyes with her again, just so I can reassure her that everything will be alright. I watch her eyes pass by mine for a second then fly back. She recognizes my face and we lock eyes. God, her stare makes my heart flutter every time I see it. I let my mouth stretch into a tiny smile, only meant for her eyes. I watch as a small, hopeful smile spreads through her lips and, that's it. My heart belongs to her now. I'm going to protect this girl with everything I have.

_"You have to get your head in the game kid. We have more important things to worry about then protecting a pretty face."_ Says the voice inside my head. Suddenly, my heart leaps immediately back into my chest as I feel a pair of snake eyes burning holes through my soul. I look to the left and see Winter staring right at me and that's when I realize this might have been her idea. She looks back at the audience and asks for an applause for the brave female tribute. Katherine takes a seat on the chair by my mother. This is when I'm faced with an ultimatum of feelings I never thought I'd come across. I see my mother and I don't want to participate in the games. That's obvious, but then I look over at Katherine and I actually find myself hoping I get reaped. I remember learning that my father got to know my mother through the games.

My throat tenses as I watch Winter cross over to the men's bowl. She removes the lid and I watch as her hand flies around the bowl, stopping to grab a slip and then reconsidering. She finally grabs one and brings it back to the podium. I see the look on her face, my name is on that slip. To my surprise, when she opens it, her face shows confusion. My heart stops. I remember that whether or not my name is on the slip, I'm done for. She'll just say my name anyway. Her eyes quickly flick back to mine and an evil smile slides across her face.

"Soloman Saito!" She bursts out. My face loses all color. Soloman Saito is Sol's full name. I can feel Winter's eyes staring at me again. I realize what their plan of action is now. Why let me die in the games when they can force me to watch my closest friend and the girl from my dreams die instead? I look back at Sol and his facial expression confuses me. He's not scared at all. It's almost as if he's prepared for this. As he exits the group of boys aged sixteen to eighteen, I remember what he said to me in the meadow a couple years back. That if he lost and he didn't die, he would go live in the meadow. Sol doesn't have any family of his own. That's probably why he's so okay with being completely independent. The memory of my response to Sol saying he would volunteer for me crosses my mind and before I can even think about what I'm doing my hand flies upwards.

"I volunteer!" I blurt out. A moment of utter silence passes by. It's so quiet you can hear the soft breeze drifting through the center of town. I look straight ahead at Winter who isn't phased at all. I'm not going to let Sol live in the meadow. I'm not going to let Valley and Winter have their way. I'm not going to let the girl from my dreams die. I'm going to make all of this work. I glance at Sol and it seems this manages to catch him off guard. He just looks at me with a stunned look on his face. I look back at him with a look on my face that says: _"Why are you so surprised?"_ Murmurs echo through the crowd while cameras fly to close in on me and my parent's reaction. I try my best to portray complete calmness hoping it helps in keeping my parents from lashing out. I straighten my tie and head for the stage. I have to keep my composure no matter what, the world is watching right now. I keep staring down Winter but I don't dare look at my parents face. I won't be able to handle it. I hear my mother let out a small cry when I actually get on stage. Winter congratulates me and asks both tributes to shake hands. I extend my arm forward and give Katherine's hand a reassuring squeeze. She locks her eyes to mine once more. We are then rushed into the back rooms to say our goodbyes.

Theo, Leslie and Sasha burst into the room all at once. I expected tears and sobbing but instead they all look quite hopeful.

"You're gonna win you know." Sasha starts. I silently nod. It turns out I'm the one who's choking up but I don't want to be the person who breaks down first. It's not that I'm afraid to die or anything like that. It's just that the weight of the situation has finally hit me. I'm really going to the arena to fight not just for myself or for Katherine but for my District's well being. There's more than a little bit of pressure there. I try to say something to my friends but my voice is failing me so I throw my arms wide open, effectively initiating what could be our last group hug ever. I shake that thought out of my head. This isn't the last time I'm gonna see them. All too quickly, two peacekeepers enter, inform me that their time is up and escort them out. I turn around to sit on the sofa when my door swings open again. Sol walks into the room. He walks up to me and flicks me on the forehead quite hard. He turns around and walks towards the door, without a word. As he reaches for the handle, he stops for a moment.

"I'll watch over the group. You had better survive." He says as he walks out. I rub my forehead as I sit on the sofa once again. I always thought Theo was strong but despite being a few inches shorter and not quite as built, Sol is quite strong himself. As I'm rubbing my forehead, one thing dawns on me. The voice in my head is gone. I start wondering if it was ever there in the first place when the door swings open again. I'm utterly thrown when I see my next guest.

"President Valley?" Confusion settles on my face. "Why are you here?" I watch her face closely. She takes a few moments to carefully consider her words.

"I'm here to warn you," she starts. A puzzled look escapes me.

"There's a small group, located deep in the outskirts of the west coast, who's sole purpose is to exact revenge on your mother for the 2nd Great War of Panem." She loses herself in thought once more, debating on whether to continue.

"This year, you were their target." For some reason I remember Valley's eyes flicking to Winter suspiciously when they had me restrained. Then I start thinking about how Winter had known my identity at first glance. Finally I remember Winter leaving Valley to deal with Katherine and wanting me for herself.

"So Winter is..." I think out loud.

"Yes, Winter is a high ranking officer in their cause. Their members make up a majority of the Peacekeeper Corps so I have to follow their groups orders to a certain extent. At least with everything that has to do with the Mockingjay. "

"What do they want with me?" I throw back at her. Valley sighs.

"They want to trade your life for your mother's. If they got their hands on you, your mother will surely give herself up to them." This is true. I've heard plenty of stories based around my mother sacrificing herself for the good of those she cares for. She truly doesn't have a clue of her own self-worth.

"Winter might have seen through my plans, however."

"Your plans?"

"Well, you were supposed to get reaped first so that my agent I had in the crowd could volunteer for you. Your name was the only name in the men's bowl. She must have known I might pull something like that."

"Wait a second... You had me locked up just a few hours ago. Why didn't Winter just use that opportunity to trade my life for my mom's?"

"You've felt her bloodlust right? She wasn't just going to hand you over unharmed. She was planning on brutally torturing for 7 days before even contacting your mother for the trade. Insisting on having you reaped for the Games was the only thing I could think of that would leave you with the least amount of damage. Winter is... Well, she's quite sadistic to be completely honest."

"So you want to help me?"

"Of course. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for your mother's reformation of Panem and I wouldn't be President if it wasn't for your father's teachings. I owe them a lot and the least I could do is keep their only son safe." I can't tell if this is just her silver tongue speaking or if she's being completely honest. I have no choice but to trust it.

"Listen Finn. You can't trust anyone in that arena, alright? Those peacekeeper mutts that caught that girl will also be present and you will be their only target," the mention of 'that girl' instantly peaks my interest, "Proceed with-"

"Hey what's with 'that girl'?" The question left my lips a little too quickly and I cut her off. I think I blush as I realize how eager I must have sounded.

"I mean why were you chasing her? What's so different about her? Why is she so 'dangerous'?" You can see Valley remembers telling me that she's dangerous hoping I wouldn't remember. She just turns to leave. She stops at the door and turns her head ever so slightly to the right.

"She's one of the deadliest killers I've ever seen." Valley says as she walks out of the room. At the word 'killer' I expected to feel a sense of danger or suspicion but intrigue is the only sense I can seem to follow. I'm intrigued because 'that girl', I should probably start calling her Katherine, doesn't give off any kind of a threatening aura. She doesn't have a malicious bone in her body. I've actually been more relieved the few times I was in her vicinity. But still, this is the second time someone has told me something like this about Katherine.

After Valley leaves, two peacekeepers walk in and inform me that I have no more visitors. Ouch. They escort me to the car that will bring me to the train headed for the Capitol. They drive Katherine and I separately. I just look out the window hypnotized by the green blurs of the forest passing by us. I say silent goodbyes to all my friends one by one. Sasha, Theo, Leslie and, of course, Sol. As we reach the train station, I have to remind myself that this isn't a "goodbye" it's a "see you soon".

I step inside and see the royalty of the locomotive. I hate to admit it but I'm impressed. A couple cars down, I see Katherine walking into a room. I decide it's time to finally talk to her. I go to the room she walked into and lift my hand to knock the door. I'm about to move my hand when my parents find me and wrap me up in a big hug. They then lead me into the dining car to talk, not realizing what I was doing before they found me. We take a seat at the main dining table, my parents taking the two seats directly in front of me. My mother is lost for words and my father focuses on consoling her. I decide I should start the conversation.

"I'm okay you guys, honestly! I mean, I'm basically a career!" I say jokingly. This doesn't help. My mother takes my hand in hers and just squeezes it softly. I'm instantly brought back to a day in the woods with my mother, one of the first days she took me out there. I must have been no older than five years old. This wasn't a hunt day, it was just a leisurely stroll. We decided it was time to head back for dinner when all of sudden my mother turns her head. I hear it too. A pack of hungry animals are headed in our direction, you can hear the dead leaves crunching and the heavy breathing. My mother puts me on her back and expertly scales a tall tree. I'm beyond terrified and on the brink of tears until I see the rabid dogs running toward us. This is when I start bawling uncontrollably, so my mother takes my hand in hers the same way she is now. My tears stop and my mother gives me a hopeful smile.

"Don't cry little duck, I promise I'll always protect you." This memory makes me realize two important things; firstly, what my parents must be feeling. Their 'little duck' is headed for what could be a death sentence, that they've personally seen the horrors of, twice, and there's nothing they can do about it. Secondly, my mother takes full responsibility for all of this. I can see it in her eyes. She feels like this is her fault.

"Mom," I force myself to smile as widely as possible "It's not your fault... None of this is. I'm the one who volunteered. Sol is one of my closest friends. I have to protect him."

I consider telling them why I'm really in the games when the door swings open and Winter slithers into the room. I can immediately feel my mother tense up. I don't know how she can be such an accurate judge of character with such little information. "Oh why hello your honor," Winter hisses at my mother, bowing somewhat sarcastically.

"Your honors." She corrects herself as she notices my father. You can tell by my father's face that he can't sense the snake in Winter like my mother and I can.

"What's with all the formalities?" My father says awkwardly, obviously not aware of the risen tension in the room. My mother shakes her head and sighs before looking back at Winter.

"Peeta dear, I need to speak with Winter privately, would you mind starting me a bath?" My mother asks my father sweetly. My father nods and leaves for their compartment. Now it's just my mother, Winter and I. I've never seen my mother with this look in her eyes before. She's hyper-focused. I grab a hold of the small butter knife at the table, just in case things get out of control. After my father disappears through the door, my mother just stands up and walks over to Winter, exhibiting the regal grace of a queen in each step she takes. She stands directly in front of her, maybe trying to feel her out, square her up? My mother lets a cocky smirk slide across her face as she moves her head to Winter's left ear and whispers something quickly. Winter's eyes widen in disbelief and she evacuates the dining car. I'm stunned, I never thought I'd see Winter run off with her tails between her legs like that. My mother walks over to me and kisses me on the tip of my nose before she leaves for her compartment.

* * *

><p>No more distractions! I stand in front of the door to Katherine's room, getting ready to knock. I need to know more about this girl. I've only heard about what other people have had to say about her. I'm about to let my knuckles tap on her door when it suddenly flies open. Katherine is just standing there, looking up into my eyes again. I am completely caught off guard and don't know how to react.<p>

"Hi." She says cheerily. I'm struggling to respond.

"Uh...ah...hi!"

Smooth.

She just laughs at me. I let another smile creep onto my face. I felt like I had a million questions for her but the only one I can think of is: 'Why have you been appearing in my dreams lately?' And that feels super inappropriate to ask right now. I realize how long it's taking me to respond so I stick out my hand and decide to introduce myself.

"I-I'm Finnick. Most people just call me Finn though." She takes my hand.

"Katherine." As her name leaves her lips, the train comes to a screeching halt.

"We are experiencing several equipment failures throughout the entire locomotive. Maintenance will likely take several hours to solve the issue. Thank you for your continued patience." A capitol voice informs us through an intercom system. After the intercom buzzes off, Katherine looks out the window in her room and quickly turns back to me.

"Hey, would you like to take a walk with me?"

"Where? Like, around the train?" I fail to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"No," she says chuckling, "Outside!" My palm flies to my forehead.

"Oh! Yeah, sure!" She grins as she takes my hand and leads me out of the train. As soon as we step off I stretch loudly and take a deep breath. Nothing beats the great outdoors. I look over and see Katherine staring longingly into the forest.

"Hey, you were really amazing in the woods," I remember watching her out speed me just like only one other person I know can, "I'm not used to people flying passed me like that." She smiles at me before looking back to the woods.

"Well I'm not used to people keeping up with me," she responds back with a small laugh. I like her confidence. I sigh as I look to the woods and start feeling a longing for it too.

"Hey, what do you say we take this walk through the woods? The maintenance workers said it would take a few hours anyway." She nods excitedly. We walk side by side into the trees watching the sun gently set in the distance. I spot an apple tree not too far ahead and we decide that this is a good spot to stay and relax. We climb high up into the tree, grabbing a couple apples on the way up. As I bite into one, Katherine asks me all about my life; what I've done, what I dream of doing and she asks about my friends. I tell her about sparring with the other Districts alongside Theo. Leslie's clairvoyance. I tell her about Sasha who's starting to grow a love for the woods and the meadow and I tell her about Sol, the man who helped us in the meadow, the day her and I first met. At this point, she pretty much knows everything worth knowing when it comes to my life. After her several rounds of interrogation I decide to cut in with a question of my own.

"Okay, well now that you've had your twenty... THOUSAND questions, it's my turn. Where are you from?" I ask her. Her smile disappears from her face.

"I'm from District Two." District two? That's incredibly far away. As soon as my first question left my mouth, the joyful atmosphere in the air evaporated leaving me wondering if I should continue prying or if I should fall back. I want to be respectful but my curiosity is just too much for me.

"You're from two!? What were you doing in the woods outside District Twelve?" Katherine sighs deeply.

"When I was young, around eight years old, my dad received some kind of news that made him insist on himself, my mother and I living in the woods," I can see that she's having a hard time retelling the rest of the story but she soldiers onward, "A few years back, when I was 13 or 14, I woke up and my parents were gone. I waited in the same spot for weeks but they never showed up. My father always taught me that in this scenario, where he and my mother were missing, I was to head for District Twelve so I left a note saying I was going. To this day I still haven't seen them. The worst part is, I couldn't find their bodies so they could still be out there but I've been on my own ever since." I'm unsure of what to say next. I look over at her as she goes to continue but she chokes up. I see tears start to flow gently down her face. I quickly rush over to the branch she's sitting in, desperate to console her. I think she's talking but her hands are covering her face. Somewhere in her tears she tells me about how alone she is. I don't have any siblings but I've had my friends for as long as I can remember. I can't imagine what it would feel like growing up entirely on my own. I take her hand in mine, squeezing ever so slightly to let her know I'm here for her. The tears are still streaming but her eyes find mine. Suddenly I know exactly what say.

"Please don't cry Katherine, I promise I'll always protect you from now on. You're not on your own anymore."

Time slows at what happens next.

One last tear slips from the corner of Katherine's eye as she moves her face closer to mine. It takes me a second to understand what was happening but I quickly put the pieces together, I can't mess this up! She takes my face in her hands and guides me to her, I can feel her warm breath on my lips and neck when all too suddenly an obnoxiously loud blast makes the ground shake and knocks us both out of our tree. I just can't seem to win today. As we fall, I make sure to position myself under Katherine so I can absorb most of the impact. I did just finish promising I would protect her. We land with a heavy thud but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe a few bruises. Two more blasts come from the direction of the train. We bolt back as fast as we can.

We slow our pace to a light tread as we approach the train, people are talking inside. It looks like they used the explosives to disable and board the train. There's a big smoke cloud coming from the first car.

"Order! Order!" Commands a strange, familiar voice "Order in the court!" As the people around her start to quiet down I can hear the gavel she's banging on a table.

"Ahem, good evening ladies and gentlemen! I am your honorable judge, Winter Snow." She bangs the gavel one more time. "Court is now in session! This is case #001, the Capitol vs rebel leaders Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark." There's a big cheer from the crowd.

"You have been charged with treason, manslaughter and several different crimes of war. How do you plea?"

The crowd answers for my parents with a loud cheer.

"Guilty!"


	5. Chapter 5

The word 'guilty' echoes through my brain as I try to associate it with my mother and father. The more times I try and picture them as true war criminals, the less I believe they actually are. I start to wonder about why I can't hear my mother or father trying to deny the claims they're being accused of and my stomach sinks to my feet. Are my parents even okay enough to speak? I slowly creep up to the door so I can peek through and see the situation clearer. I poke my head in and spot my parents. My mother is simply sitting calmly in a chair, no restraints or visible wounds. My father is a different story. He's been bound several different times: his wrists have been handcuffed and three large, metal bands wrap around his arms and chest, effectively restricting my father's arms to his sides at all times. I can see that he's squeezing his eyes shut and murmuring to himself. My mother is feeding him soothing words in the calmest voice she can muster, trying to gently coax him out of his mental episode. I decide that I've seen enough, my parents need my help. I look around the inside of the train and spot four of those mutt peacekeepers sitting behind my parents, guarding them from escape. I search the ground for anything I can use to protect myself. I spot a decently large rock that definitely looks like it'll suit my needs. I pick it up then turn back to the train to figure out the rest of my plan. I assume that with my quickness, I can smash the closest mutt's face with the rock, as a distraction for my mother. I know that she probably doesn't want to fight but we don't have a choice.

"She's one of the deadliest killers I've ever seen."

The president's voice echoes through my memories as my mind focuses back to Katherine. I consider asking her to fight as well, I kind of want to see her in action, but I ultimately decide against it. When I see that some of the Capitol attendants from the train have been slaughtered is when I realize that this isn't official Capitol business. The Capitol must be on their way to us and that means that our mission now is to simply stall these people out.

"Katherine, I'm going to try to distract at least one of those mutts and cause a commotion. I need you to stay safe and out of plain sight until the Capitol shows up." Katherine shakes her head worriedly.

"I'm not going to let you go in on your own! I can fight too!" She replies back in a loud whisper. I search her face and see the worry in her eyes. You can tell that she doesn't want to fight but she doesn't want me to leave her alone either. Her concern for me makes me smile gently.

"Okay, how about this then," I look back inside the train "You stay here and I'll go in first. If things go to hell then you can provide back up." I offer her. She can tell that this is just a deal to placate her but she goes with it. I nod and creep back to the door. I want to get my mother's attention before anything else, so she knows I'm here. I snap my fingers as an idea pops into my head. Whenever my mother and I hunt together, we whistle this little song my mother picked up from the games to signify that we were safe. There's no doubt that my mother will understand this signal when I give it. I peek my head back in the door and whistle the two note song as gently as possible. As soon as I see the understanding register on my mother's face is when I spring to action. I throw the door open with the rock firmly gripped in my right hand. Before the mutt can even react, I've caved the top of its skull in. Black ooze splashes out of the gashes and hits my face. Suddenly the second mutt lunges at me after he sees my first move. I avoid his massive swing but just barely. He lets out a loud roar before my mother suddenly and swiftly executes him with a butter knife. I'm stunned at watching my mother fight which explains how I got grabbed from behind by a sneaky mutt. I struggle as hard as I can but its arms are just too massive. The more I squirm the harder it squeezes and I can already feel it draining my life away. My mother is calling my name but a wall of mutts that seemed to have appeared from nowhere are preventing her from getting to me. The world starts fading to black when these vice grip arms I'm captured in suddenly drops me. My eyes are closed and everything's quiet. Why is everything so quiet? I open my eyes and see everyone has simply stopped. I can't figure out why until I look back at the door and see that Katherine has stepped in. The mutts and even Winter are dead silent. Everyone is tense. Nobody dares to make a move. I get back to my feet and try to figure out this strange turn in events. It appears that they're all afraid of Katherine.

"It's her." Winter whispers with an obvious tint of fear. Seems that all of their thoughts are indeed connected because Winter throws a smoke bomb and they evacuate the premises almost all at once. As soon as the smoke clears, Katherine is swiftly at my side, checking my vitals and bombarding me with questions regarding my current health. Before I can answer any of them, my mother cuts in and gives both of us a huge hug.

"What were you thinking Finn!?" My mother is crying almost hysterically. "You could have been killed!"

I chuckle inwardly. I've supposedly faced death a lot of times in a matter of hours now.

"You didn't expect me to just let them take my mother away from me, did you?" I respond. This just makes my mother cry harder. I start to feel bad for Katherine because the more tears my mother squeezes out, the harder her grip on us becomes.

"Mom! You're killing me!" I complain while gasping for air. "Let us go!"

My mother eases her grip enough to let me escape her clutches. To my surprise, and also my mother's surprise judging by her face, Katherine has not let go of her. If anything, I actually see her grip tighten around my mother's neck. Her surprised reaction transforms as the sweetest smile spreads across my mother's lips. She was born to take care of people, her aura is so soothing and warm. She starts to whisper 'it's okay' and 'it'll all be alright' as she holds Katherine tenderly in her arms. This is when the rest of Katherine's tears start flowing. I remember listening to her cry while we were up in the apple tree and decide the best place she can be is in my mother's arms. There's no place safer to me in the world. I approach my father and see he's still stuck in his own little world. My mother is currently being occupied by Katherine so I decide to try and speak with him.

"Dad?" I whisper to him gently. His eyes stay squeezed shut but the expression on his face starts to change.

"It'll all be alright," I'm trying my best to imitate my mother and it appears to be working. My voice seems to be having some kind of reaction with my father's condition. I keep talking just so he can hear my voice. After just a few minutes his eyes fly wide open. Sweat has broken out on his forehead and top lip but he seems to be okay now.

"Finn?" He starts looking around and recognizes the condition of the train, "What happened?"

I open my mouth to answer but I don't know exactly what to say to him. Too much has happened. I just hope that we can get to the Capitol soon so my parents can be safe. I shrug as a response to my father's question before my mother appears at my side again. After she realizes that my father is awake she flies over to him excitedly and starts speaking more sweet nothings into his ear. Watching the relief flood my father's face as my mother's voice started reaching him drew a warm, fuzzy feeling out of my stomach. Even after twenty-five years they still can't live without each other. Suddenly, I'm find myself craving a something similar with Katherine. I turn back to see her standing by herself just outside the door. I am almost instantaneously drawn to her, aching to defeat her loneliness.

"I really have to stop getting my ass kicked right in front of you." I say jokingly as I walk up behind her. I pause and realize that I really have been getting my ass kicked in front of her and have to step my game up. She turns around and smiles at me.

"I'm supposed to be the one protecting you." She smiles again, a little weakly but she doesn't respond so we just stand quietly in the cool evening air before curiosity overcomes me. How come President Valley and Winter are so afraid of her? The look on Winter's face when she saw Katherine keeps on replaying in my head. She was absolutely terrified. What secrets have Katherine kept hidden from me? I decide that this is a better time than any to ask her.

"Hey," The edge of suspicion in my voice must be obvious because she immediately turns and faces me, "Why were Winter and her mutts so afraid of you?"

Then I feel it.

For a second, no not even, for a millisecond I feel a presence so evil, so blood thirsty, that my skin starts to crawl. I'm repulsed. I look around trying to establish where it came from for it surely could not have arisen from this girl in front me, Katherine. When I can't locate the source, I turn to Katherine in disbelief. Small beads of tears start forming in the corner of her eyes as she opens her mouth to defend herself. Or so I thought.

"This morning, in the forest fire," I watch an evil grin reach across Katherine's face for a fleeting moment before it returns to normal and she says,

"I killed thirty of them at once."

Thirty of them? I barely killed three and she killed thirty of them?

We stand in silence as Katherine's words hang loosely in the air. She killed thirty of those Capitol mutts at once. I'm trying to figure out how I would go about killing two at once let alone thirty. I look back at her and I think she's expecting me to respond by the way she's looking at me. I can't figure out if I should be scared of her, jealous of her abilities or angry that she didn't tell me earlier so I choose trusty option four; who cares? You know you've fallen for this girl.

"That would've been nice to know before I got my ass handed to me for the second time." I say with a light laugh. A tiny smile forms on her lips but disappears before I get a chance to appreciate it. I try to find her eyes but they seem to be avoiding mine. Something still isn't right.

"There's something you're still not telling me Katherine."

There it is again. Her face twitches and contorts into a shadier, wicked version of itself for a fraction of a second before it flicks back. I grab her hand and keep on trying to reach her eyes but they skillfully avoid my gaze. Suddenly, I can feel the distance between me and Katherine starting to grow.

"Katherine, please tell me what's wrong. I want to help!" I plea to her. She's still withholding her response so I follow with, "I still want to protect you."

Out of the complete and utter blue, Katherine slaps my face so hard that I see stars and shoves me away from her.

"Protect me!? You can't protect anybody!" Katherine cackles at me. No, this isn't Katherine, this is somebody else. This person standing in front of me shares a lot of the same physical features with Katherine but it's her bloodthirsty aura, wicked soul and contemptuous attitude that tips me off.

"Who are you?" I hiss at her as I return to my feet. When I touch the cheek she slapped me on, I'm greeted by a sizzling flash of white pain. I do everything I can to push it to the back of mind, I can't afford to worry for myself right now. Her eyes flash to mine and suddenly I find myself stuck. Whoever this is still has Katherine's tremendous beauty and it looks like they know how to utilize it.

"What ever do you mean?" She's batting her eyelashes and mocking me now. "I'm your little princess, Katherine!" That time she actually sounded like my Katherine. It's really starting to annoy me now.

"Shut up! You're not Katherine!" I bark back at her. She responds with a light chuckle and takes a step in my direction. I simply blink and suddenly she's at my throat. She's not attacking me though, she's just breathing softly down my neck.

"You're right," She purrs seductively, "I'm so much better. Forget her, protect me, Finn." Her hands are gently caressing my chest and neck while she continues to whisper entrancing thoughts directly into my ear. All of her words are making sense even though they're not supposed to.

"I promise I'll take really good care of you." She continues purring. I'm trying my hardest to deny her but I can't put the words together. Somewhere deep inside of myself, I know that this is wrong. Her words are just so tempting and sweet that I have no choice but to buy into them. Katherine has such a spell over me. Whenever I hear her voice, I can't help but to have faith and believe in her. She giggles as it becomes apparent that she has me trapped. She starts to slowly rise from my neck to my ear, whispering sugar-coated nonsense all the way up.

"You're mine and you know it, silly boy." She whispers ever so sweetly as she reaches my ear. I'm really about to give in when the voice in my head finally speaks up.

"Come on Finn, you know better. Are you seriously falling for this lame act?

Jeez, you really are a handful. I'll help you out this one time."

Suddenly the world is clear and I understand everything. My confidence has risen tenfold, I've never felt like this before. My thoughts are all orderly and very precise. Something has awoken deep inside me. I can see this fake Katherine for what she really is now.

"So, you're the one who killed those mutts. You're some kind of second personality of Katherine, an Anti-Katherine."

I actually caught her off guard. Her face very clearly displays her unpreparedness. She sighs as she regains her composure and drops the act.

"So you figured it out, huh?" The wicked edge has returned to her voice. "Bravo."

"How do I get Katherine back? I mean the real Katherine." I decide to skip the nonsense and be straight forward.

"How do you know I'm not the real Katherine?"

"I don't. But you are not the real Katherine to me." This response visibly annoys her. She shakes her head and she scoffs at me.

"Well you can't bring her back lover boy. Once the sun sets, it's my turn to have this body." She cackles at me. "You're stuck with me." I try to find a response but I'm coming up blank. It seems like I really am stuck with her.

"Looks like our ride is here." She says, smiling at me maliciously. I look up to see a Capitol Hovercraft appear over us. You can hear the feedback of a microphone getting turned on as a rope ladder descends towards us.

"Tributes of District 12, this is President Valley. Are you alright?" I look back at Anti-Katherine and see that she has put her "Katherine" face on. I wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't actually her if it wasn't for the ever present blood lust. I suddenly remember that President Valley is also able to sense blood lust and this gives me an idea.

"Are you sure you want to be in that hovercraft with President Valley? I'm sure she knows your secret. She'll be able to tell you're not the real Katherine." As I say this, I see her consider the situation for a second. She puts her finger to her forehead as she closes her eyes. After a few seconds, she cackles and turns back to me.

"You really want her back that bad, huh? She's also asking me to let her free just this once so I suppose I'll let her take the hovercraft ride with you. Besides, I just wanted to slap you for your lame 'I'll protect you' act."

"I'm really going to protect her. And if you're a part of her, I suppose I'm going to have to protect you too." This response very clearly catches her guard. She laughs coldly to regain her composure. Suddenly, the blood lust disappears from the air. Katherine's knees buckle and she tumbles to the ground. I catch her in my arms and wait for her to open her eyes. This is the real Katherine, I'm starting to feel relaxed again. Her eyes slowly start to open.

"Finn?"

"Mhm. How are you feeling?" As I question her condition I see her notice my left cheek. She brings her hand to my bruised skin. As she touches it, I can feel the sizzling pain slowly start to disappear.

"Did I... Did I do this?" I don't feel the need to respond. Not out of anger but I know she knows. I just smile at her.

"Heh. It still feels better than being tossed around by those mutts."

"Finn. I'm sorry-"

"No need for apologies. Maybe I was coming on a little strong anyway." I say as I help her to her feet.

"No. Finn, it's not that-"

"Hey! Hurry up down there!" Valley roars at us from the hovercraft. I yell an apology and head back to the train to collect my parents. Katherine and my mother are lifted to the hovercraft first followed by my father and then me. As soon as the hovercraft starts moving, I start to feel my eyelids get droopy. I see that my parents have already fallen asleep. Katherine sits in the seat next to me.

"...Finn." The tone in her voice is strange. I look over at her.

"From now on, I'm going to protect you." Her words catch me off guard. I try to look for a response but I just give her a smile. She smiles back and rests her head on my shoulder. The soft humming of the hovercraft gently lulls my eyes close and I doze off.

"Finn... Finn..." A voice is softly trying to pull me from my sleep. I'm not quite ready to wake up until the memories of yesterday start flooding my head. I open my eyes wide and am greeted by Katherine's face.

"I had no idea you were such a heavy sleeper." She says teasingly. I smile as I wipe the crust out of my eyes and yawn.

"Incredibly stressed filled days tend to do that to me." I reply back with a playful grin. Katherine lips curve into a weak smile and I can tell she's not over what happened yesterday.

"Finn, about last night," I bring my index finger to my lips and she stops mid-sentence.

"Let's just protect each other, okay? No matter what." She smiles wider and nods in understanding.

I sit up and see that we're still on the Capitol hovercraft. My mother and father are asleep, safe and sound. Everything seems to be going according to plan now. I let out a relieved sigh before another thought pops into my head.

We're still headed to the games.

I can feel the hovercraft start to descend back towards the earth and that's when I realize that we must have arrived in the Capitol. It makes a loud, locking click immediately after it lands on the dock and within seconds, all the doors open and our party is prompted to exit the craft. We step out, sore and bruised, into the grandness of the Capitol. The comparisons to home start almost immediately in my head, everything is so different here. Even so, you can't deny the regal quality behind the look and feel the Capitol puts on.

We quickly make our way to the training center, so desperate to shower, change and eat. As we make it into the lobby, my mother starts getting nervous when a couple people seem to recognize her and then all of us. They start murmuring loudly and pointing in our direction. I notice my mother quickly hide her face and I start to get a bad feeling. Either the Capitol is still in love with my mother, 'The Girl on Fire', or they too hate her for her position in the war. Either way it would cause a commotion that we're not currently equipped to deal with. I jog ahead to the elevator as slyly as possible, I don't want the Capitol citizens to get suspicious of us. I can still hear them murmuring and I'm positive I just heard one of them say: 'is that her? Is that them?' I reach the elevator and start pressing the button over and over hoping it would speed it up. I'm reminding myself of Sasha. After a few moments, the door finally opens and we all slip into the elevator. I quickly reach for the button to close the door when I make accidental eye contact with one of the Capitol citizens. The realization registers instantaneously on his face. From the top of his lungs he yells:

"It's her! It's the girl on fire!"


	6. Chapter 6

Mayhem. Utter mayhem breaks out in the lobby of the training center as an entire stampede of Capitol citizens rush to the elevator we're in. At this point, I'm smashing the 'door close' button since it's the only option we really have. The door is just starting to close when the stampede has made it halfway. There are too many things happening to figure out whether this is a happy stampede or a 'we're gonna kill you' stampede. I don't really want to find out. The door closes completely and we all let out a relieved sigh. I immediately jump back to reality when I realize that the elevator isn't moving upwards. We didn't press the twelfth floor button! The door swings open again and that's when I spot the three fingers that must have been barely caught between the doors. Before I can think, I quickly press the button to the twelfth floor and decide to sacrifice myself by pushing the stampede backwards, letting my parents and Katherine fly safely upwards. The stampede is stunned as they watch the girl on fire fly away. I guess it was mostly her they were after. I spot a young woman, somewhere in her early twenties, trying to grab my attention from a door in the far right corner of the lobby. I see a picture of stairs just above it so I figure she must be trying to help me escape. While the Capitol citizens are dazed and confused I duck my head and make a beeline dash for the girl at the door.

"Through here!" She whispers in an aggressive hush, smuggling me into the door way. We start running up flights of stairs, praying the Capitol citizens didn't catch us come through here. We slow down as we reach the eleventh floor, damn this is a really tall building. We're breathing heavily and a light sweat has broken on my forehead as we finally reach the twelfth floor. I go to open the door but it doesn't budge one bit, looks like you need a card key. Luckily, I have this girl with me because she pulls out a shiny red card and swipes the door open. I walk in and immediately drop face first onto the couch, I know I just woke up but I'm already exhausted. I can hear a shower going in two of the bedrooms so I assume my parents and Katherine got here safely. Heavy breathing follows me into the room and that's when I remember the girl who came here with me. I stand up and turn around to properly thank her and introduce myself.

"Thank you so much for bailing me out there!" I let out with a relieved sigh and I stick out my hand, "I'm the male tribute from District 12, Finnick Mellark." She takes my hands and shakes it firmly.

"Yes, I know who you are, Finn! I'm your stylist, Jacqueline! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." So this is my stylist? I've actually been anticipating this moment for a while now. My mother always speaks of Cinna, a Capitol stylist that became one of her dearest friends and I can't help but wonder if Jacqueline and I will ever experience the same thing. She gives off a very professional vibe, her glasses combined with her all business black skirt and white button-up blouse. She even has a tie on. Still, even with the professional look, you can hear the playful bounce in her voice. She's actually quite pleasant.

"Oh, the pleasures all mine." I respond as our hands break apart.

Suddenly, she leans forward and starts analyzing me from my feet to my forehead. I can see the explicit focus in her eyes, she's in a zone. After a couple moments, she blinks and the focus is gone. She smiles delightfully as she leans back again.

"You're actually a lot taller than I estimated, I'll have to make some adjustments." She gives me a quick, professional bow and slips into what I'm assuming is her workplace. I shake my head and sigh as I try to find my room, I definitely need to shower as well. After walking through a couple different hallways, I come across a vacant room and decide to claim it as my own. I walk in and head straight for the washroom. I flip the lights on, take off my shirt and look in the mirror. I can't stop looking at the several different bumps, bruises and cuts I've acquired and I haven't even entered the arena yet. I finally turn away from myself, close my eyes and step into the warm shower rain, letting it rinse away the past twenty-four hours.

Why am I in the woods?

That's the last thought that flickers through my head before my eyes fly open and there I am, in the District 12 woods, chasing Katherine again. This time the woods aren't on fire and I think Katherine is actually leading me instead of trying to escape. We speed through the woods until we make it to the meadow again and Winter's there, waiting for us with a small army of those mutts. I load my bow quickly, I have to protect Katherine! Almost like she's read my mind, she turns back and shakes her head, she wants me to stay behind? I suddenly notice her eyes and her mouth and realize that this must be Anti-Katherine. She smiles wickedly when she sees the flicker of fear slip through my eyes but turns her head back to Winter. I remember that I blinked and she was at my neck so I keep my eyes wide open. I watch her fly at the mutts at a blistering fast speed, I can barely keep up. Mutt, after mutt, after mutt drops as she passes by them, is that how fast she's taking them out? About thirty of them drop before they finally overpower her. It appears that Anti-Katherine must have retreated because I hear my Katherine let out small, weak cry as they grab her and restrict her. A voice, that same voice that arose out of me when I met Anti-Katherine for the first time, arises once more.

You want to protect her right? Let me take control, I'll help you.

Suddenly, a simple green bracelet forms around my wrists and my focus sharpens exponentially. I immediately look back at Winter and her mutts as I load my bow with three arrows instead of one. This is a technique I've seen my mother use on a couple different occasions, mainly to take out multiple targets at once. I let the arrows fly and they all reach their targets with a precision I wasn't aware I was capable of. I load and let another three arrows fly except this time I follow them into the heart of the army. As they each hit their assigned target I pull out a single arrow from my quiver and use it like a sword, swiping at each mutt I come across with the sharp tip of the arrow. I must have taken out at least seventy, maybe eighty mutts myself before Winter calls for a retreat. My eyes search for Katherine and lock to her once I spot her. Every step towards her I take, the more my eyelids start to drop. I don't know why. I continue moving forward and I eventually start calling her name but it's no use, I'm fading. By the time I actually reach her, I drop to my knees and my eyes lock shut. In the darkness behind the walls of my eyelids, the voice from before makes one last reappearance.

You really love that girl, huh?

My eyes rip open and I'm find myself drenched in my Capitol bed, I must have fallen asleep as soon I came out of them shower. I go back to the bathroom to grab a towel and dry myself off. Once I'm nice and dry, I head to the dresser to find something to wear. I pull open the first drawer, shirts. I spot a light-grey hooded sweater and pull it over my head. I open the second drawer, it's empty except for an odd looking, foreign bracelet. I pull it out and inspect it. It has a beautiful emerald green hue to it, it reminds me of the woods back home for some reason. I'm about to put it away when I take one last look at it and decide to take it with me, I like it's spirit. I put it around my left wrist and it fits a little too perfectly.

"Just a coincidence." I reassure myself. I open the third drawer, spot some comfortable looking mesh shorts and pull them on. The bottom drawer is just socks and under clothing so I grab a pair of socks and pull them over my feet. My stomach is growling at me, I haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday. I quickly leave my room remembering I don't know the way to the kitchen. I'm turn a couple corners before I finally arrive in the dining area where my mother and father are sitting at the table eating quietly.

"Oh, why hello little duck," my mother says as she spots me. "Thanks for biting that bullet for us." I see her smile at me playfully. The memory of being chased by the Capitol citizens jumps back into my head. Since my mother is smiling, I'm assuming that they weren't dangerous, just crazy about her.

"I knew you had a reputation back home but this is something else mom." I reply back to her. My father chuckles lightly.

"Everyone's always been crazy about her," He pauses as he looks back at my mother, his beloved wife. "Especially me." My mother's face beams with delight at my father's words. Damn, he's still so smooth. I laugh and take a step towards the table when suddenly Katherine's absence becomes blissfully apparent to me.

"Hey, uh, where's Katherine by the way?" I say much too eagerly once again. Every time Katherine pops into my head, I can't help but speak without thinking. My father turns back to me and gives me a suspicious look. He might remember how much time me and Katherine spent alone last night. I thought I was being sneaky with my feelings for her but it seems my father has already figured it out. My mother is sharp as a tack but when it comes to things like this, she can kind of oblivious.

"She's with Xavier, her stylist, getting ready for the opening ceremony and the Capitol reaping."

The pang of jealousy that flashes across my features must have been way too obvious because now my father knows for sure, you can see it in his eyes. He just smiles at me though.

"Speaking of which, you should go see Jacqueline and figure your costume out as well." I guess he's planning on saving our talk for later. He looks back at my mother as I turn and walk to Jacqueline's room. Once I get there I knock on the door softly.

"Hey Jacqueline! It's Finn I-" I get cut off as the door opens.

"Oh hello Finn! How was your nap?" She must have tried to come see me earlier. I blush when I realize I was relatively non-clothed while I was asleep, I'm hoping she didn't see too much.

"Uh, it was pretty refreshing," I reply.

"Good, good, okay please come inside! Let's get to work." She opens her door fully and I step inside. I look around and see several different designs posted on a wall with the words 'Opening Ceremony' on one side and 'Capitol Interview' on the other. I'm expecting to see those fake flames, there's no way my angle isn't going to be 'Son of the Mockingjay on Fire'. I turn around and sure enough, I see a fake flame smoldering in Jacqueline's hand.

"Oh, surprise, surprise." I say jokingly to her.

"Yes, yes, I know but I think you might need the support it'll generate for you." She says to me in defense. I just give her a confused look so she continues her explanation.

"Right now, you're actually the number one pick for the winner of these games." This comes as a huge surprise to me. I had no idea that people were considering me at all let alone putting me at the top of their list. "But, as you know, the Capitol reaping is tonight,"

The Capitol reaping is one of the new rules drafted by the President and the Districts. After the Districts get reaped, we all gather in the Capitol for their typically fancy reaping. First we arrive on the chariots, showing off our District's industry, then their reaping ceremony will start. All the kids here, from ages twelve to eighteen, are career level tributes. They've been trained to kill since their first day of school. Just another way the Capitol makes sure it never comes in last.

"And word on the street is there's a brother-sister duo who are volunteering today." She continues. Again, I'm confused.

"What does that have to do with me?" She takes a deep breath before continuing.

"They've branded themselves as the 'Mockingjay Silencers'." My stomach twists into a painful knot. "But more specifically, they're President Snow's grandchildren,"

"President Snow? What does President Snow have to do with this?" I think to myself. Suddenly, I remember what President Valley told me; there's a group that wants to punish the Mockingjay on behalf of the old Capitol, on behalf of President Snow's Capitol. I guess they're called 'Mockingjay Silencers'. I put the rest of the pieces to the puzzle together in my head and everything starts coming together. Neither of these tributes were alive when my mother and Snow were at war meaning that they must have both been raised to hate my mother, 'the Mockingjay'. Now they have someone they can point that hatred at, yours truly. Jacqueline gulps hard as the next words slip out of her mouth and confirms my suspicions.

"And they've both promised to take your life with their own hands, on behalf of their grandfather."


	7. Chapter 7

"...Bring it on then."

A small spark ignites inside of me.

"Bring it on then!"

That spark grows into a raging fire, suddenly I'm burst with energy. I can't figure out from where this rage is coming from. Memories of my time on the boxing team in high school start to flood my mind. District 12 being the last District always gave the other Districts a sense of superiority. Whenever they would come to 12 for competitions they would act like they were better than us. They would always announce to the audience that they would beat us black and blue. The same kind of rage swirled through my stomach back then, I wouldn't let them win.

"They want to kill me so bad? Go ahead and let them try me! I'll kill them all!"

As soon as I stop yelling, I realize that I've let my rage consume me. After I take a breath I come back to my senses. These are words that the Mockingjay Silencers need to hear not my stylist.

"...I-I'm sorry Jacqueline," I can feel my cheeks flush with humiliation. "Uh, it's just been a rough couple days." I say as I look down in shame. When I look down I spot my bracelet, its previous emerald-green hue is now replaced with a fiery orange-red one. This color also reminds of the District 12 woods, except engulfed in flames and hell fire. I push the memory out of my head and just like that the emerald-green hue waves back. I feel more like myself again. I look back up to Jacqueline and the threatened look I expected to receive is replaced by one filled with worry and compassion. I don't like making people worry for me, it makes me feel small and weak. I try using a smile to put her at ease. She clears her throat to regain composure but the worry hasn't left her eyes yet.

"So, what were you thinking of doing with the fake flames?" I lamely try to continue where we left off. She straightens up and her professional look has covered her face again.

"I have to admit, I got some inspiration from your mother's stylist, Cinna." So now I must be the 'boy on fire'. I don't want to comment on it because I just finished erupting at her and this is only the second time we've spoken, not to mention, the first time we spoke she might have saved my life. She goes to a closet and pulls out a very, very finely cut, dashing black tuxedo with a burning red-orange on the lapel, cuffs and other accents. I have to admit, it's outstanding. The wonderment must be evident on my face because I see a smile form on her lips again.

"Wow." I slip out. "It's incredible." She accepts my admiration with a polite nod.

"Thank you Finn, I'm glad you like it. I just figured we'd make your parent's costume look a little bit more 'luxurious'." She looks up at the clock. "We better get you dressed, Katherine and Xavier must already be heading down."

Katherine. Another million questions, comments and concerns are rushed into my head about Katherine and this guy, 'Xavier'. I'm about to let them all blurt out when I remember I have to keep my words restrained so I just sigh and straighten up again. She throws the parts of the suit that she wants me to put on first over the dressing screen, a small wooden room divider I'm supposed to change behind. I step behind it and start putting on the different pieces of clothing. After a few minutes, I'm completely dressed in my tuxedo and I have to admit, I'm looking pretty handsome right now. I step out from behind the dressing screen and Jacqueline inspects me from head to toe. As she checks, she nods and marks things off on her clipboard.

"Okay, we're good." She looks at the clock on the wall. "Make your way down to the lobby and meet up with Katherine." At the sound of Katherine's name I nod quickly and exit the room.

I have to walk past the dining area to get out the front door and I'm hoping my parents aren't still there. As soon as they see me I'm a goner. I take a deep breath and continue forward. Sure enough my parents are still there. My mother spots me first and the effect on her is immediate. Tears start to form in the corner of her eyes and what I think might be a proud smile spreads across her lips. My father turns around next and quickly rushes over to me. My mother follows behind them, they both just have to get a better look at their son. They both wrap me up in and tight but comforting hug. No words are spoken, no words are necessary. My mother kisses me on the cheek as she breaks apart and suddenly I'm flushed with sadness. I quickly swallow the grief and allow it to be transformed into the bravery and courage I'm in desperate need of. I nod and leave my parents behind, heading for the next biggest thing on my mind, Katherine.

I'm kind of suspicious as I leave the elevator, I don't entirely trust the lobby yet. I peek my head out and see the area has been closed off by peacekeepers, only tributes and their team can enter. I fully step out and see Katherine deeply engaged in a conversation with Xavier. I notice that he's not that much older than me, maybe twenty-two, but he is pretty tall and kind of tanned. I don't like him. I am fully aware that I'm just being a jealous child but I just can't help it when it comes to Katherine. I walk forward and decide to check out the competition. The career Districts are looking powerful like usual but I can't judge too many of the other Districts, although I do stop when I see District 10's tributes. The small female tribute plants a long, tender kiss on the lips of the sturdy looking male tribute. So they must be a couple. I keep note of them in my mind because I know that love can make a person do crazy things. I look back over at the District 12's chariot and spot Katherine again. I pause when I see her costume. She's wearing an absolutely stunning black ball gown with matching red-orange accents on the different patterns and designs that cover parts of her gown. I see her spot me while I was stunned by her outfit. She leaves the Chariot and runs straight into my arms. In her embrace I find all the bravery I was previously lacking. I don't think either of us wanted to break apart but we eventually do.

"Katherine you look-" I think my jaw drops mid-sentence. I swallow hard and continue my thought, "You look beautiful." She smiles shyly and starts fixing my tie.

"You don't look so bad yourself." She jokes back at me. An unexpected moment of awkward silence passes before she opens her mouth again.

"Finn," I immediately look down at her, her tone sounded strange. When I look down I realize how close our faces are. Our faces haven't been this close since that day in the woods outside the train. She blushes and I'm pretty sure I blush too but neither of us move back.

"Xavier told me about the Mockingjay Silencers." She admits to me quietly. I sigh inwardly. That's what this is about? I shake my head nonchalantly.

"Katherine, you don't have to worry about them. I can take care of them myself." She sees the strain on my face and gives me a look so wistful that it breaks my heart in two.

"For some reason," I breathe and look into her eyes, "I know I can defeat them, okay? Anyone who threatens my mother, you or my future with you won't stand a chance." A glint of light flashes off my bracelet and into my eyes. I look down and see that's it's now clear as glass with a small tint of sky blue on it. For some reason it reminds me of the meadow in the middle of the woods back home. She clears her throat and I look back at her.

"Finn listen," She gives the most worried look I've received from anyone today. I try to survive her stare but I can't handle it. I finally break her gaze. I can see her look down, then quickly look back up at me. She pecks me on the lips so quickly and so stealthily that I almost didn't realize it happened. I look at her again and see the playful smile spread across her face. I'm happy, also very confused but still, happy.

"It'll all be okay, I promise, Finn." She whispers to me as she grabs my hand, turns around and takes me back to the chariot. I see I finally get a chance to meet Xavier. As we reach him, Katherine stops beside me.

"Xavier, this is Finn!" He sticks out his hand. I'm too elated to be jealous so I grab his hand and shake firmly.

"Hello Finn. I'm sure my partner explained the situation to you," I just nod.

"Okay, both of you turn around, quickly." I'm confused but we both follow his instructions. He attaches two very thin wires that stick out from each of my shoulder blades. He fits Katherine with the same thing. I can see other tributes starting to board their chariots and ride off. I start looking around wondering where Jacqueline is when suddenly she bursts out of the elevator.

"Sorry I'm late!" Jacqueline huffs as she runs up to the chariot and joins us. She looks over at Katherine and astonishment wipes across her face.

"Katherine, you look absolutely magnificent!" She blurts out. Katherine blushes. Jacqueline nods and quickly pulls out a couple matches and flicks them till they light. She walks behind us and sets fire to something like a fuse that must be attached to the shoulders of our outfits. The fire starts spreading downwards and even though I know it's fake, I'm still hoping I don't burn alive. After the flames reach all the way down my suit, I understand what Jacqueline meant when she said she "got an inspiration from my mother's stylist". Cinna made my mother look like she was on fire, but our outfits make us look like we control fire. Like the flames bend to our will and command. The fire gently flickers on all of the accents on my suit but burns brightly on the lapel and cuffs. I can see that the two wires Xavier attached to our backs were for the fire to flow down gently into a cape like shape. I look next to me and see the flames have had the same effect on Katherine's outfit, except her own natural glow puts the fire to shame.

"Perfect." Xavier and Jacqueline say in unison. "Oh wait, one more thing!" Jacqueline pulls out some more of that wire that Xavier put on our backs and puts it on our heads. Crowns? Xavier hands Katherine something discreetly, like it's a secret just between the two of them. It kind of irks me but I see the other districts start moving so I just forget about it and step onto the chariot first and offer a hand to Katherine. She takes my hand and steps up. Once she's on she lets go of my hand and the chariot starts moving forward. She almost slips off so she grabs my hand for balance and squeezes tightly. It kind of hurts but it reminds me that she's here next to me. She quickly looks up at me, the terror is apparent on her face.

"I've never been on one of these before!" She says as the chariot starts speeding up. "Please don't let go of my hand, Finn!" I give her hand a gentle squeeze.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

As we ride into the arena, I hear the cheers of the Capitol and honestly assume they can't get any louder.

But then Katherine and I ride into vision.

The crowd goes absolutely ballistic, it's deafening. I listen closely and find out that not all the cheers are excited ones. I can hear plenty of loud boos arise from the audience. That's when I remember the two Capitol kids. The 'Mockingjay Silencers'. The Capitol must have presented us as some sort of rivals or competition for each other. I look beside me and expect to see Katherine looking somewhat scared but she stands there, sturdy as a rock, looking straight ahead. I look forward too and spot them, two Capitol kids standing up - while everyone else is seated - staring us down. That must be them. I follow Katherine's lead and stand straight while looking forward at both of them, they won't win this staring contest. As we approach the stage for the Capitol reaping, the first six chariots slant left and the last six chariots slant right so all the Districts end up in a horizontal line with us and District 6 in the middle. President Valley walks up to the podium to give the speech. I don't pay too much attention to it, I just keep staring down the two Capitol kids. I can see them clearer now, the female tribute looks to be about Katherine's age. The male tribute looks a little younger, maybe sixteen years old. Their eyes are almost empty except for a sense of hatred and contempt that's difficult to get over. There's something about them that's familiar but I don't plan to figure it out now. I look next to me and see that Katherine is still solid and sturdy. Even though she's squeezing my hand like a vice grip, she's helping me keep my balance as well.

President Valley wraps up her speech and introduces the escort for the Capitol tributes, 'Chancellor Belmont'. I don't bother looking at him, I keep my eyes locked on the Capitol tributes. He actually takes a second to acknowledge that he can see us staring each other down. The Capitol lets out another huge cheer when they realize it also. Trying to ride this new wave of excitement, he starts the reaping. He crosses to the right first and pulls out a name. As he goes to open his mouth the female Mockingjay Silencer volunteers. She makes her way to the stage and shakes Chancellor's hand, still glaring at us from the corner of her eye no doubt.

"Welcome! May I ask what your name is young lady?" Chancellor asks her.

"Violet." she answers nonchalantly.

"Do you have a last name?" He continues. She stays silent and continues glaring at us.

"Uh, okay, on to the boys!" He crosses over to the left. He sticks his hand into the bowl and grabs a slip. Once he reaches the podium, he opens the slip and goes to read the name. Again, before he can talk, someone volunteers. The young man makes his way on stage and gives Chancellor's hand a curt shake. Then he turns back to us.

"And what's your name, son?" Chancellors starts questioning him too.

"Crimson."

"Also no last name, huh?" Chancellors mumbles under his breath but into the microphone.

"So," Chancellors looks at both of them and then both of us. "There seems to be some tension between you two and District 12." Crimson laughs and grabs the mic out of Chancellor's hand.

"In case you haven't heard, we're gonna kill those two people, we're going to shed their blood for sure." he says while licking his lips. Again, the licking of the lips remind me of something... Or someone. Then it hits me like a ton of bricks. The only other person I've seen lick their lips at the thought of inflicting pain was that walking snake Winter. They must be related to her in one way or another. Even with this realization, I scoff at his lame attempt to intimidate us. He gets instantly offended, you can see it in the reaction on his face, as he drops the mic. He jumps off the stage and starts making his way toward me. I see the girl follow behind him. Katherine is off the chariot and already on her way to meet them before I even turn around. What's gotten into her? Even though this must be against a million rules and regulations, the Capitol is cheering their heads off. I catch up to Katherine and we stand side by side. Crimson and Violet walks up to us and stops not even two feet from where we're standing. They both have disturbingly wicked smiles twisted across their lips. Their confidence annoys me. Chancellor regains his composure, picks up the mic and runs over to us. Crimson grabs Chancellor's hand and brings the mic to his face.

"We're gonna skin you alive." Crimson hisses at us. We don't respond. The Capitol goes crazy. Suddenly, Katherine tugs on my sleeve.

"Watch this." She whispers to me. She pulls out a button she hid in the some of the ruffles at the bottom of her dress and presses it purposefully. Suddenly our outfits burst open with a brilliant blue blaze. The blue fire burns away the black and replaces it with a clean, snowy white. The red-orange accents also burn away and are replaced by a blindingly bright blue. The blue flames assume the same position the previous orange fire was in, except for the cape. The blue fire appears more like wings. I remember the wire that Jacqueline put on our heads and look up. They weren't supposed to be crowns, they're halos. I look back at Katherine as she grabs the mic out of Chancellor's hand swiftly.

"We are the 'Children of the Mockingjay'!" Katherine yells as she throws her free hand in the air. The blue fire on her starts burning even brighter.

"And we will never let you win the games!"


	8. Chapter 8

Silence. It's insane to me that all the ear rending noise of the Capitol audience has ended so swiftly. Crimson and Violet just stare blankly at Katherine, not even paying any attention to me anymore. I'm scared because I feel like she just became their primary target. Katherine tosses the microphone back at Chancellor, turns on her heels and heads back to the chariot. Crimson grabs the microphone out of Chancellor's hands once more and hisses softly into it before he lets his words slip out.

"...I'm going to enjoy killing her the most." I haven't left for the chariot yet. I'm still standing right in front of the two Mockingjay Silencers. Crimson eyes stay locked on Katherine. My blood starts to boil.

"You two won't get the chance to kill Katherine because I'm going to kill you first." I say without the microphone. They just look at me like I'm a meal to them. Ice cold blood starts running through my veins. I ball my left hand into a fist and punch the air in front of their faces. The wind thrust from my punch catches their attention. I then let my thumb stick out and turn it downwards. My bracelet has turned orange again. Violet notices the bracelet first followed by Crimson. I drop my hand back to my side and turn around. The Capitol bursts into an explosion of noise once again. Chancellor must have grabbed the microphone out of Crimson's hands because I hear the feedback in the speakers before I hear him yell out;

"Don't forget to place your bets, people! This could be the best games ever!"

More and more noise starts blasting from the audience. Again I can hear some boos directed at us but mostly I can hear cheers of excitement and anticipation. As I get back to the chariot, the anthem of the Capitol starts playing. Before I can even take a step onto the chariot, the anthem is cut short and the lights in the arena are cut. The sudden descent into darkness throws the audience into chaos. I can hear people screaming in fear and I can hear some people cheering, probably thinking this is some sort of scripted event. I calm my breathing and look straight ahead waiting for my eyes to adjust to the blackness of the arena. For some reason, a strong wind gusts and blows out the fire on our outfits. Perfect, now I have zero light. I notice a small light emitting from the left side of my body and notice my bracelet is glowing a strong sky blue once again. The color calms me greatly. Suddenly I notice the blood lust pointed in our direction. The Mockingjay Silencers couldn't possibly be planning to take us out right here, right now but that assumption isn't enough to put my worries to rest. Katherine pops back into my head. First things first, I need to make sure she's alright.

"Katherine." No response.

"...Katherine?" Still no response. My palms start getting sweaty.

"Katherine!" The panic is clearly noticeable in my voice.

"You can feel it too, right? The bloodlust?" Katherine's voice rings to me through the darkness. She's okay.

"Yeah, I can feel it." I respond.

"It's them, those two Mockingjay Silencers. You don't think they planned this, do you?"

"I don't think so. I mean, we're going to meet them in the arena anyway, right?"

Katherine remains silent for a few seconds. I can't see her but I feel like she must be considering something.

"Finn, we should get out of here." She says as she grabs my left hand. I can feel her pulling me back to the entrance of the training center. I can see the lights of the training center lobby but then I see them. Two silhouettes standing in our way.

"Where do you think you're going?" hisses out the silhouette to the left. Both of them are too tall to be the two Mockingjay Silencers. I grab Katherine's arm and pull her behind me. The two silhouettes come running at us. We're still stuck in the darkness so I start running at them too so I can at least fight with a little bit of light on my side. The left silhouette reaches me first. He punches me in the stomach as I put my arms up to block my face and chin. I gasp but quickly realize that because he hit me, he must be within my arm's length. I let out a quick right jab and it connects, so I know he's definitely there. I follow that up with a left cross. Once again, I hit my target. I'm about to throw more punches when I hear the sound of metal being thrown through the air. A throwing knife? I feel a sharp pain in my left arm but it's not enough to make me stop. I throw a right uppercut at the silhouette but the one who threw the knife grabs him and escapes into the darkness.

"He can fight better than expected. We've already missed our window. Plan B has been initiated." I catch the other silhouette say before they vanish. Of course I can fight. If they really wanted to kill me, they should've done their research. The sharp pain in my left arm starts throbbing wildly. I quickly grab the object that has pierced my left arm and pull it out. It doesn't feel like a knife, it feels like a thorny flower stem. I grab Katherine's hand and continue walking towards the light of the training center before the lights of the arena flick back on. Before I can walk another step, I drop to my knees.

"Finn? Finn!?" I can hear Katherine calling my name but I can't see clearly anymore. I don't even know if I'm suddenly going blind or if my eyes have started closing on their own. Everything is going numb. As my eyes close completely, I see what was thrown at my arm.

A white rose with a stem coated in metal.


	9. Chapter 9

Darkness once again. I can't move and I'm in immense pain. It feels like my left arm is being ripped off my body but every other part of me is either numb or aching. My consciousness comes to me in small pieces. In those small waking moments, I couldn't tell where I was but I was sure I could hear familiar voices. I couldn't place a face to any of them. I can't even remember who I actually know anymore. I can barely remember who I am or what I'm supposed to be doing. I guess for now, surviving long enough to see light again is what I'll be doing.

_"Wake up you lazy cow. You've been on your behind for much too long."_

A small sky blue light starts flickering then explodes all around me. The color is calm and refreshing. Now all I can see is the sky, no matter what direction I look in. The puffy, white clouds just drift by, without a care in the world. My pain is slowly fading but still present. My arms are able to move again and I'm able to get to my knees. That's progress.

_"You've lost something important. It's not my place to tell you what it is. You need to figure it out for yourself. But I will always be here to help you on your path."_

This voice is the only voice that I can't recognize no matter how hard I try but it's also the most familiar. I can tell that it's spoken to me before but I never knew who the voice belonged to in the first place. This voice has always been with me. The sky starts cracking and falling as I finally reach my feet. My body is starting to feel normal again but it's my mind that is all scrambled now.

_Who am I?_

Slowly but surely my consciousness comes back to me. I can hear beeping and sliding doors. The first thing I can see is the color white. The room I'm in is incredibly sterile, you can smell the disinfectant all over the room and everything is quite tidy.

So this is a hospital room?

I open my eyes fully and get adjusted to the light. I seem to be wearing a hospital gown. I look at my left arm and it appears they operated on it. There's a long line of adhesive bandages covering what I'm assuming is a scar. I hear snoring coming from my right so I take a look. There are two older looking people, a woman with long brown hair tied into one long braid and a man with messy blonde hair, sleeping on a couch, neither of them with familiar faces. Judging by their appearance it looks like they've been here a long time.

Do they know me?

I'm about to take a full scan of the room I'm resting in when suddenly the young lady sleeping in the chair next to my bed catches my attention. She's incredibly beautiful. It astounds me that a girl like her would be waiting here for me. I blink a couple times to make sure I'm not dreaming. I slap myself to make double sure. Then I pinch my forearm for good measure. I'm definitely not seeing things. The light reflecting off her auburn brown hair makes her look like something out of a beautiful dream. I go to open my mouth but I can't build up the courage to talk to her, especially not while I'm half naked. I look to the left and see a pile of clothes on a counter. A grey hooded sweater, jeans, a pair of socks and a pair of combat boots.

Combat boots? Was I in a war or something?

I can still hear snoring coming from the people beside me so I quietly sneak out of my bed, grab the clothes and enter the washroom. After I change, I take a good stretch before I catch my reflection in the mirror. I don't even recognize the person I'm looking at. Somewhat tall, built sturdily with dull, blonde, messy hair.

So this is me, huh? Whatever.

I just shrug and exit the washroom then slip into the hallway of the hospital. On the wall, beside the door, in a file bin is a folder that has the words "MEDICAL FILE" in big red letters. I take a quick peek. There are lots of words I don't understand but the ones I do is "unidentifiable toxin".

So I was poisoned? Is that why I'm here? I'm trying to recall anything from my life before getting poisoned but nothing comes to mind. Maybe I have amnesia? Maybe this is something worse.

I have a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I decide to take a look around this hospital for more clues but before that, I take a chance to learn the first thing I should know about myself.

"Mellark, Finnick?" So that's my name. I close the file and put it back in the bin. As I leave the hallway of patient's rooms I enter the public area of the hospital. The nurse behind the counter gives me a strange look as I walk past her. In the reflection of the glass doors I can see her quickly grab a phone and call someone.

Am I not allowed to walk around freely or was that just a coincidence?

As I continue walking I start to hear a loud stomping coming from just ahead of me. I slip into the broom closet a little bit ahead and to the left of me. Instead of closing the door fully, I leave the tiniest possible crack to see who walks by. A man wearing a white combat uniform bolts passed me. He had a rifle on his back. Either I was in a war or I am in a lot of trouble. I wait a solid 15 seconds seeing if anybody else walks by before opening the door and continue down the hall in a brisk walk. I see a sign for an elevator, rush to it and quickly start clicking the button. I'm trying my best not to look suspicious but I'm starting to get decently nervous. A light sweat has started forming on my brow. I hear a ding and the elevator doors swing open. Before I can walk in, the lady in the elevator seems to notice me.

"Finn? You're awake?" She says to me quietly. "Why are you walking around like this?"

"I'm not allowed to walk around?" I respond back to her. She gives me a stern look before taking my arm and pulling me into the elevator.

"So you've lost your memory, huh?" She asks me bluntly. I'm astounded that she pieced it together so quickly.

"H-how'd you know?" I respond nervously.

"Well, I don't understand why you'd leave the people who were waiting for you in your room unless you didn't recognize who they were."

"Well, who were they?" I ask her curiously.

"Just go back to your room and tell them you don't remember who you are. They'll help you out for sure." She replies very curtly. I look at her with an eye of skepticism. How can I just trust this person? Well, I guess I don't have much else to go on and besides, I can't sense any evil intentions from her.

"Just go you idiot. I'm sure they're probably worried sick because you're not there." She says as she goes to press the 'door open' button. Before she can, incredibly loud alarms start blaring through the hospital.

**"ALERT. ALERT. INTRUDER ON THE PREMISES. LOCK DOWN PROCEDURE INITIATING. ALL PATIENTS FIND A ROOM AND WAIT TO BE INSPECTED. ALERT. ALERT." **This message repeats as the elevator goes pitch dark.

"They really came HERE to finish the job? I thought we agreed to at least wait till after the games." I hear her mumble under her breath.

"Who's 'they'?"

She continues to look straight ahead before pulling out a key and sticking it into the keyhole at the bottom of the elevator button panel. After she twists the key to the right, the lights in the elevator turn back on and she quickly clicks the button to the bottom floor.

"Listen, Finn. Once we get to the bottom floor, go straight to the left and find the emergency exit door." She says to me in a hushed but panicked tone.

"You'll need my key card to get through," She explains as she hands me a key card. "Go down to the basement and either find a place to hide or find a way to escape this place. I'll send peacekeepers down there later to find out where you are, alright? Also, and this is vital, avoid anyone in a black cloak. They are the 'they'." As she finishes her sentence the elevator very conveniently makes it to the bottom floor. The doors swing wide open and she pushes me out of the elevator.

"You have to-" Before she can finish her sentence I can see all the color flush from her face. It looks like she's just seen a ghost. I spot her eyes locked to something behind me. A shiver runs up my spine. As the elevator doors close, I see what must have had her so terrified.

In the reflection of the metal elevator doors, I see it. The black cloak. 


	10. Chapter 10

Fight or flight? Do I run or do I try to defend myself? I start to realize that it must be their fault that I'm here in the first place. "The Black Cloaks". I have to admit, I'm somewhat afraid of what they might do to me next but I'm also upset that they took my memories away from me. I come to the conclusion that now is not the time to take out my frustration so I start running towards the emergency exit door. I can hear the light tapping of footsteps behind me, the black cloak must be following me. Once I reach the door, I don't waste even a second opening it. I swipe the key card and force my way in. As soon as I get through, I use my back to close the door as quickly as possible. I take a second to catch my breath before I hear a banging come from the door behind me. I take a quick look of my surroundings to see if there's anything I can use to barricade the door. I'm simply standing in a staircase with nothing in it besides the stairs leading to the upper floors of the hospital and to the basement.

_"Go down to the basement and either find a place to hide or find a way to escape this place."_ The voice of the lady who gave me the key card rings through my head. I immediately start jumping down flights of stairs trying to reach the basement. After four or five flights I reach the bottom. It's dark, damp and completely, eerily, quiet. Every step I take echoes through this cavernous space I'm in. I look around and see nothing but tall steel racks holding boxes that I'm assuming are filled with different medical supplies. I don't bother with checking inside them. I keep walking forward when I finally see light coming from a little bit ahead and to the left. I start running towards it and that's when I see a small window leading to the outside world. The window is dusty and yellowed from what I'm guessing is years of non-use. I walk up it to it ready to free myself of this place when I'm interrupted by what I can only explain as a rogue thought;

_Katherine._

Suddenly a picture of the girl has flooded my memory. The auburn-brown hair, the hazelnut eyes. The girl who was by my bed when I first woke up. I slap myself on the forehead, I can't believe I forgot about her. I look once more at the window, I can taste the light and the freedom but ultimately decide that I can't leave Katherine behind. I turn around to head back to the upper floors when I suddenly start feeling sick to my stomach.

_"Finnick."_ A strange voice echoes through the darkness. The hairs on the back of my neck start standing up. I slowly turn my head and see a small light coming from a room directly behind me. I didn't even notice it was there till just now. The way the light glows under the door tells it's not the light of an electric bulb but the glow of a candle. I slowly walk towards it, whoever's in that room clearly said my name. As I make it to the door, a single bead of sweat drops from my forehead down the side of my cheek and finally falls off my chin towards the floor. As it splashes on the ground, the door swings wide open. My stomach drops at what I see next. Katherine and the two older people who were also sleeping in my room are tied up and surrounded by the Black Cloaks, each of them holding a candle. They don't look to be injured but they are unconscious. More sweat breaks out of my forehead.

_"Come here."_ Rumbles a deep and powerful voice. I slowly walk into the room. There are more steel racks with storage boxes stacked on them. I can hear the scurrying of small animals coming from the darkened corners. My hands start shaking uncontrollably. I don't think I've ever been this scared before, I can't raise my voice or even speak. My vocal cords are locking up. I feel like I'm about to throw up because there's a presence so demented, so filled with a lust to see the flow of blood that it's already started to flood the entire basement level. I feel like I could run forever and not be able to escape it. But I see Katherine unable to defend herself and so I swallow my fear and continue foreword. The Black Cloak standing directly behind the hostages stands up and as he does, the rest bow their head. So he must be the leader of the bunch. The Black Cloak slowly removes his hood and I get to see his face. The dead eyes, the hardened lines on his cheeks and forehead. I see his powerful jaw move as he starts to talk.

"Finnick Mellark. First and only son of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark."  
>At the sound of those two names, images of my mother and father start filling up my missing memory. They're the older people who were waiting for me in my hospital room and they're the other two people lying unconscious beside Katherine.<p>

"Do you know who we are?" He questions me. I'm lost for words and so the most I can do is shake my head. He scoffs at me and throws something to my feet. I look down to see a white rose with a stem coated in metal. It's not complete but a memory pops into my head.

"Mockingjay... Silencers?" I don't exactly know what this means but it's the only memory I can muster that's related to the rose. There's a picture of two kids, dead eyed with wicked smiles attached to that name.

"Ah... That's right. You got to meet my children. Their name for us is a little immature. My name is Packer Snow and I am the leader of the 'Survivors of the Old Capitol'."

"Survivors of the Old Capitol?" I don't have any clue what this is about. The bewilderment on my face must be quite clear because he immediately continues on with his explanation.

"Your parents, your mother in particular, started the Great War between the Districts and the Capitol that ended in chaos and destruction for all the innocent people living here. She was the leader of the rebel army who dropped time bombs on the Capitol's children, killing them all without hesitation or mercy. She was the catalyst, she was the cause of our downfall." I just stand there in stunned silence, unsure of how to respond to his accusations. I must be wearing all my thoughts on my face because he finishes his thoughts.

"We have our reasons for wanting to silence the Mockingjay. And now the target of our rage lies before us. What do you think is going to happen now?" I take a look at my mother and father lying on the ground. My fear is choking me up but my desire to protect my parents accesses a fountain of courage I've had stored up somewhere inside me.

"I'm not going to let you execute them." I slip out a little bit unconvincingly as my voice cracks like I'm a child.

"Execute them? No, no. That's much too easy. Do you think we've waited twenty five years just to end their lives so swiftly? They're going to be slowly and carefully tortured, their heads will be put on display, their demise will be recorded and shown to all the Capitol so they can revel in the suffering of the Witch from 12." he says as he looks me straight in the eyes. Again, I can't seem to find the words to respond to him. This man isn't sadistic or bloodthirsty. This man is on a mission that he won't let anyone get in the way of. His determination is what's so intimidating to me because I can feel it so clearly through his glance alone. I try to open my mouth to defend my parents once more but he interrupts.  
>"However, my children desperately wanted to meet you inside that arena, so much so that they've begged me to leave you to them. And so I'm going to give you a choice. You will need at least one of your parents as a mentor and so I shall let you choose who you will take with you and who you will leave with us." A huge lump gets caught in my throat. I'm sweating profusely now. The lives of those who brought me into this world are now in my hands. I look down at palms and see that I'm shaking uncontrollably.<p>

"I-I can't decide something like that!"

"Do you think you have an alternative? I'm giving you a chance here to not lose both of them. Are you going to spit on my mercy?" My thoughts are disorderly and confusing. I'm trying to find the resolve to save one of my parents but as soon as I think about the one I will save I start thinking about the one I will have left behind. I drop to my knees with my head in my hands. I just can't choose. I don't want to choose. I would rather that they just took me away instead. I close my eyes tightly hoping this is all just a bad dream.

_"Finn. All you have to do is give me your soul, and you can save them both."_ A voice from inside my head speaks up. I've heard this voice before.

"Y-you can help me save them?"

"I can help you do anything you want but all I need is your soul in return." The world starts to recede all around me. Everything is going black. This feels so familiar to me, like I've experienced something like this before. My thoughts slowly start lining up. I'm going to save my parents in return for my soul. I'm going to kill all the Black Cloaks in this room and leave with my parents and Katherine safe and sound. I'm prepared to respond to the voice. I don't know what it will be like to lose my soul but I know what it will be like to lose my parents.

"Fine. You can take-" I'm cut off by the sudden flood of bloodlust that has filled the room. It's different from Packer's. This bloodlust is pure evil and without remorse. It's not mission-oriented or aimed in a certain direction. It's wild and reckless and without emotion. I've also felt this before though I cannot seem to recall from where. Until I look at Katherine. I see that she has broken out of her rope restraints and is standing before me. The look on her face is that of a demented, psychopathic serial killer.

"Touch him, or those two old timers, and all of you will be torn apart limb from limb." She hisses at Packer. The Black Cloaks surrounding us step back in fear but Packer stands firm. His resolve has not even slightly wavered.

"F-father... It's her..." I hear one of the Black Cloaks hiss to Packer. "She's the one who killed an absurd amount of the mutt peacekeepers in a single moment. I told you we shouldn't have brought her here." Packer just keeps his eyes locked to the girl. He takes two steps towards her and Katherine follows suit. In each step they take, their blood-lust grows stronger and thicker. It's almost palpable at this point. It's hard to even breathe and I'm starting to feel sick again so I bring my hands to my stomach trying to hold in whatever is still in there. I'm about to let it all out when I feel something in the front pocket of my hooded sweater. I reach inside and pull out a bracelet. It's clear with a sky blue tint on it. The color calms me greatly. I slip it on and suddenly I'm able to stomach the tremendous amounts of blood-lust filling the room. I rise to my feet and look back at Katherine and Packer.

"Let them go, old man. I don't want to have to massacre the lot of you, well, actually I kind of do but I don't got the time for that." Katherine says coldly. Packer pulls out a sword he had concealed under his cloak. He points it at Katherine. He rises it above his head, ready to strike her down.

"So that's how it gonna be, huh?" Katherine responds calmly. I look to my right and see that one of the steel racks has a rung sticking out from the rest. Before I can even think, I grab it and deflect Packer's strike. I finally get to see his expression change from pure determination to slight confusion. I've caught him off guard. He goes to swing at me a few more times but I deflect them all. I don't know where I learned to fight like this but now isn't the time to question it. However each blow that I deflect does remind me of someone. Someone back home, wherever that is. I push the thought out of my head and bring my attention back to Packer. I can hear the other Black Cloaks murmuring in stunned disbelief when Packer stops his assault. Katherine scoffs at me with a hint of confusion in her tone as well.

"What do you think you're doing lover boy? I was handling it." Katherine hisses at me. After putting on the bracelet, a lot more of the memories I've lost have come back to me. I remember the evening of the reaping when I first met the girl standing behind me.

"You're Anti-Katherine, right?" I respond back to her.

"What about it?"

"Thanks for sticking up for my parents and I. Now it's my turn to protect you." I don't get a response from her. Packer just sheathes his blade and picks my mother up by the neck.

"I'm tired of the games, Finnick. Choose the parent you wish to keep. They will both end up in our grasp anyway. You're just delaying the inevitable for one of them."

"That's enough, Packer." A familiar voice speaks up from behind me. I turn around and see the lady from the elevator surrounded by peacekeepers aiming their rifles at each of the Black Cloaks.

"President Valley... How dare you interrupt us..." Packer hisses at the lady.

"President Valley?" I think out loud to myself. At the sound of that name, a couple more pieces of my missing memory become complete. She warned me about these people once before just like she warned me about them in the elevator. As far as I can tell, she's on my side.

"We had an agreement." She continues. "The games have to continue. Both Peeta and Katniss need to be present. After that, it's open season." As she says this she glances at Katherine. Her facial expression changes once they make eye contact. She immediately grabs a rifle from one of the peacekeepers and aims it at Katherine's head. Katherine just lets a cocky smirk spread across her lips. Valley's index finger moves towards the trigger when I interrupt almost automatically. I stand between the woman, the rifle and Katherine.

"She's on our side." I inform Valley. She doesn't say a word and keeps aiming the rifle at us. "She's certainly dangerous but she was defending my parents and I just now." Valley gives me a look before lowering the rifle.

"The peacekeepers are going to escort you all back to the training center. The games are taking place five days from now. Make sure you're prepared."

"Aye aye, captain." Katherine says mockingly. Valley gives her a death stare before leaving the room. I turn my head to see all the Black Cloaks have evacuated aside from Packer. Before he turns to leave, he slips out a few parting words.

"If there's one thing you should take away from our meeting, it should be that you and the Mockingjay are never out of my grasp."


End file.
